


innocence

by LastRavens



Series: American Horror Story [1]
Category: American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Murder House
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Depending on how you look at it I guess, F/M, Ghost Sex, Ghosts, Give me suggestions for more tags I suck at this, Halloween, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Its literally called Murder House you guys, Light Angst, Mild Gore, Murder, Psychopaths In Love, Romance, Sort Of, Teen Pregnancy, True Love, Underage Sex, Underage tag only because she's sixteen so, basically the entire cast - Freeform, lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-23 05:14:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 50,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13780476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastRavens/pseuds/LastRavens
Summary: in·no·cence/ˈinəsəns/noun- the state, quality, or fact of being innocent of a crime or offense.- lack of guile or corruption; purity.





	1. episode one.

**Author's Note:**

> I thought I would give you fair warning, all chapters will be extremely long as each one is based off of and around every individual episode. As this is an American Horror Story fanfiction, the trigger warnings should be a given, as well as some sexual content. <3 Not sure how far I'll go with any of this, but I have a plan for the series in general. Sort of. I can think of two seasons where I may have to do two different stories for the two characters in each that I love with unbridled rage. Anyway, I really do hope you enjoy this. I hope this story catches your interest, and hopefully you will stick around to read the rest and find out what I may (or may not) have planned. I hope you have a lovely day. Please remember that you're important to someone. Much love from me to you, enjoy. <3

Rosaline Harmon was different from her family in the sense that she didn't pay attention to what was going on around her in the same ways everyone else did. She was more attuned to the stranger side of things, which led her overprotective father, who had always seemed to have a strange fascination with  _"protecting"_  her, to putting her on several medications that kept her already spaced out mind from ever coming close to orbiting around earth again. She was lost in different galaxies with the handful of medications her father practically forced down her throat.

Vivien was, of course, disgusted with the way he treated their youngest child, and after the miscarriage not too long ago, and the adultery situation with Ben and one his students, Vivien was ready to explode with the disgust she held for her husband. However, in order to try to hold together their family, at which point they were really grasping at straws, they uprooted their household and moved across the country to  _sunny California_.

Now that they were standing in front of the main house they were here to look at, Vivien decided it was time to pull her husband to the side before they went to meet the realtor.

"Ben, can I just, talk to you for a moment?" Vivien asked, motioning off to the side with her head while glancing towards their two children. Violet was leaning against the car with her arms crossed, staring up at the house with a slight scowl. Rosaline, however, was already standing in the middle of the front yard, staring up and into one of the windows, smiling and waving. It was when she did things like this that Ben had to clench his teeth and worry that something else might have to be prescribed for his  _special_  girl.

"Of course Viv, whatever you want." He responded, honestly just surprised and relieved that his wife was initiating a conversation between the two of them. Although, he suspected he wasn't going to particularly enjoy the topic of conversation as he took note of the way his wife's eyes lingered for a moment on their precious little redhead.

And so, the two  _adults_  stepped off to the side, a little ways away from their children, and looked at each other, neither saying a word until Vivien took a deep breath and began.

"I want a new start here. That's what this whole move has been about, and if we buy this house, then I want it to be different for our children to. So, I want you to stop treating Rosaline as if she's your patient. Stop with the medications and the psych evaluations and all of it." Her arms were crossed over her chest as Vivien looked into her husband's eyes, not able to maintain eye contact for more than a few seconds, but hoping her expression was serious enough to put a stop to his madness.

Ben sighed and gave a slight shake of his head, clenching his jaw once more, knowing that some sacrifices would have to be made if he wanted to keep his family together after his royal fuck up. Casting a glance over in the direction of his medicated daughter, who was practically glowing in the sunlight as she smiled up at the upper windows of the house.

" _Fine_ ," Ben relented, looking back at his wife. "I'll start the process of weaning her off of the medications once we get settled in somewhere, okay? I just, I want this to be a new start for us. For all of us, Viv. You know that I love you and the kids." He said, reaching out and gently stroking up and down his wife's arms, tilting his head down a bit in an attempt to look into Vivien's eyes. In response, his wife tensed up and looked at him, giving him a tight smile before turning and walking up the steps to the small porch to stand in front of the front door.

Ben soon joined his wife and rang the doorbell, looking around the yard and at the brick of the house, a smile coming to his face.

"I love it. Don't you love it hon? I mean, it-it looks even better than it did online." Ben said, coming to stand next to Vivien and rest an arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah, it's... it's interesting." Vivien said, looking around at the architecture of the house while holding her dog, stroking her fur.

"Hey! Crabby pants! Come here." Ben called out to Violet, who had moved from leaning against the car, to sitting on a short brick pillar that was topped with a square of concrete and part of the walkway up to the front door.

Rolling her eyes, Violet stood up from her spot and looked over at her sister. "Hey, space cadet, come on. We're going in."

Rosaline hadn't been paying attention to any of her family's goings on, until she heard herself being called upon. Her sister, Violet, liked to make fun of the fact that she was seemingly always elsewhere, and Violet was silently jealous of the fact that her sister could detach herself from their shit life so easily.

Walking over to her sister, Rosie took Violet's hand in her own and walked up to their parents, stopping to stand in front of them when their father wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close, making her and Violet release each other's hand.

"Isn't this place amazing?" Ben asked, looking down at Rosie before looking over at Violet, who just hummed in noncommittal as she glanced around at everything.

Rose didn't answer at all, as the hinges on the door behind them squeaked, signalling to the family that the realtor agent was ready to show them the house.

All of them turned around, facing the woman wearing a nice suit with a large fake flower pinned to the left chest matching the color of the outfit. She had short brown hair and wore a large hopeful smile upon seeing the four of them standing there, welcoming them before stepping aside to allow them inside.

* * *

 

"It's a classic L.A. Victorian, built around 1920 by  _the_  doctor to the stars at the time. It's just fabulous. These are real Tiffany fixtures. As you can see, the previous owners really loved this place like a child. They restored  _everything_." The realtor explained, walking down the main hall with the family.

"Gay?" Vivien asked, looking around the hallway before looking at the woman as they slowly walked down the hallway.

" _What do you think_?" The realtor asked rhetorically, walking along to the next room with Vivien right behind her.

Ben, Violet, and Rosaline were just a few steps behind them, glancing around at everything when Ben decided to crack a joke. " _Tiffany. Wow._ " He said sarcastically, letting out a small huff of a laugh before nudging Violet with his shoulder. Violet cracked a smile to make her dad leave her alone, while Rosaline stared at the glass of the stained glass windows.

Reaching forward, Rose's fingertips brushed against the glass. " _Matches my eyes, doesn't it_?" She whispered quietly, smiling more to herself than anyone else. Violet glanced back at her sister with a furrowed brow before following along with their parents. Rose only stayed behind for a few more seconds before stepping away from the glass.

It wasn't long before she discovered the doorway to the basement, and she smiled to herself, gently pulling the door open with ease, as if it was inviting her to enter the darkness of the underbelly of the house. Without hesitation, Rose began making her way down the steps, unflinching when the door leading down closed behind.

Once she made it to the bottom of the stairs, Rose moved deeper into the basement, running her fingers along the walls before turning a corner into a room where a single chair was. She reached over on the wall and flicked the switch to the light on the ceiling on and off a few times before turning around and walking out, looking around a little bit more before she made her way back over to the staircase, where she heard Hallie, her mother's dog, barking before stopping, the outline of her sister standing at the door making Rose turn her head to the rest of the basement before whispering, "I'll be back later." And that was when the door was yanked open by Violet after several unsuccessful attempts.

Seeing her weird sister at the bottom of the stairs, Violet walked down and stood beside her, looking around briefly before turning her attention to Rosaline.

"What are you doing down here? You know dipshit doesn't like you wandering off." Violet said to her sister, referring to their father,  _Ben_.

Rose didn't say anything, instead turning her glassy-eyed stare to her sister with a spaced-out smile on her face, making Violet purse her lips in annoyance before grabbing the sleeve of Rose's shirt and pulling her back upstairs.

Once upstairs, Violet let go of her sister and closed the door to the creepy basement behind them and picked up Hallie, then motioned to her sister with her head to follow her. "Come on."

"Oh,  _God_. They didn't die in here or anything, did they?" Vivien asks, turning away from the peeling wallpaper to look at the realtor with a semi-joking tone and small smile.

"Yes actually. Both of them. Murder-suicide. I sold them the house too. They were just the sweetest couple. You never know, I guess." The realtor agent, Marcy as they had come to know her, explained just as Violet and Rose grouped back together with their parents.

"That explains why it's half the price of every other house in the neighborhood, I guess." Ben stated.

"I  _do_  have a very nice mid-century ranch, but it's in the valley, and you're going to get a third of the house for twice the price." Marcy said, a slightly worried expression coming over her face.

"Great." Ben said dejectedly.

"Where'd it happen?" Violet asked, still holding Hallie as she turned from looking around the room to look at the realtor.

"The basement." Marcy said, her eyes a bit wide as she hoped that this family wouldn't scatter like many others that had shown interest.

Violet gave little thought as she said, "We'll take it." Causing her parents to turn and look at their daughter with slight disbelief. Violet just smirked.

Next thing you know, there are men outside, unloading furniture and moving their belongings into their new home. Marcy was standing outside, putting the red 'SOLD' sign on top of the real estate agency sign outside the house, sighing as she looked at the Victorian, thinking about the last household that moved in there, and the dreadful past the house had. Hopefully this family would stay.

* * *

 

"Come on, baby. Let's go to bed. Leave that for the morning." Ben said, walking into the master bedroom seeing Vivien still moving things around.

"I'm a little bit worried about Violet. You know? These kids here are very different. I don't know if she can handle another year of not fitting in." Vivien said to her husband, who, of course, had to psychoanalyze the situation, even if it was just a little bit.

" You mean,  _you_ can't?" He joked, smiling at his wife, who smiled back. They were trying to make this move work.

"I can't believe this place doesn't freak you out a little because of what happened here." Viv stated, shaking her head slightly as she continued moving smaller things around, setting a box on the chest of drawers.

"My repulsion is tempered by the fact that this house is worth  _four_   _times_  what we pair for it. So, let's not think about it." Ben said, sighing at the end as he looked around their new bedroom.

"This is your professional advice, Doctor? Just denial?" Vivien joked, making Ben smile, happy to see that they were getting somewhere as he put a little squirt of lotion into his palm and rubbed his hands together, moving so that he was sitting on the edge of the bed before reaching out to hold his wife's arm and rub it.

"Come on. Let me give you a little love." He said, gently beginning to rub her arm with his lotioned hands. "Moving here, buying this house, was the exact right thing to do... For us... And our family. It's a  _good_ thing." He explained, running his fingers down her arm before continuing. "And we deserve some good after all the  _shit_  we've been through." He stated, shaking his head slightly before looking up at his wife. He had hold of one of her wrists, running his fingers down her hand and over her ring finger before she pulled her hand out of his grasp.

"I... I've got some stuff I want to... Unpack down in the kitchen." Vivien stated, moving slowly around the bed toward the door. Once there, she hesitated before leaving the room, turning to face her husband's back as she leaned one hand against the door frame, the metal of her ring on the wood of the frame making a small sound that seemed to echo through the silence of the room.

"I appreciate that you're trying... I'm trying to." She ended, looking off to the side as Ben resituated himself on the bed to look over at her.

"Okay." He whispered.

"It's just gonna take some time." She said, looking back at him and nodding before leaving their bedroom.

After a few minutes of leaning against the backboard of the bed, Ben stood up and walked down the hallway, first knocking on Violet's door, who promptly told him to go away, then walked down to Rosaline's new bedroom. she had been insistent on having a certain room. Her version of insistence being that she found a room she liked and laid down in the center of it until they told her she could have that certain room.

Upon reaching her door, Ben knocked before entering, knowing that his Mini Vivien was probably off in her own world yet again. Stepping inside the bedroom, he noticed that everything was organized and clean, but knew it probably wouldn't stay that way for long. Rosaline had a tendency to be forgetful about things such as cleaning up after herself, seeing them as 'little things' and thinking that such 'little things' shouldn't be worried about.

"Rosie?" He asked, addressing his daughter that was sitting on her bed with her back to him. "Rosie, come on down." He said, repeating the phrase he had used to 'bring her back down to earth,' in a way.

Rosaline turned to her father and looked at him, her blue eyes that matched his so well seeming to look through him.

"This room makes my chest hurt." She said, making her father frown slightly as he walked up to the bed, sitting on the edge.

"Rose, I wanted to talk to you about something very important. Your mother and I have decided to take you off the medication. Slowly, not right away, but I don't want you to take your pills tonight. We'll start by reducing it to every other night for a week, and then move it on to every two nights and so on until you stop taking them... altogether... Rose. Rosaline!" He snapped his fingers in front of his daughter's face, making her eyes focus back in on him. Sighing, Ben cupped her cheek and kissed her forehead before standing up. She probably hadn't processed any of what he had said, but he would go through with the plan if it meant making Vivien happy. He would at least  _try_.

* * *

 

Violet walked through the school smoking a cigarette with a blank expression on her face. School was such bullshit, and yet here she was yet again, forced to move through the crowds like fucking cattle.

" _Hey!_  Student council passed a rule against smoking in public spaces."  _Okay, what a bitch. She could have just asked me to put it out, but whatever._  Violet thought, looking over at the group of girls that had rudely called out to her.

"Secondhand smoke kills." An obvious groupie of the main bitch here says.

"I'm new. I didn't know." Violet says, looking at the group of three before dropping her cigarette on the ground and stomping it out.

" _What the hell is_ _ **wrong**_ _with you?!_ People sit here. They eat here." Main bitch says, picking up the cigarette before looking at Violet like she was stupid.

"You don't know me. Why are you doing this?" Asked Violet, furrowing her brow at the girl who was freaking out on her.

"Leah's grandmother died of lung cancer. She takes this stuff pretty seriously." One of the groupies explained, making Violet look at the main bitch now known to her as Leah.

"Eat it. Eat it or I'm gonna kick the shit out of you." Leah said, holding the cigarette out to Violet.

"No." Violet said incredulously, looking between Leah and the cigarette.

"Come on, Leah. That's enough." The previously silent groupie said, looking at Leah.

"No, no, no. I want to see her eat it." Leah said speaking to the girls, then turned back to Violet, grabbing her by the back of the neck and trying to force the cigarette in her mouth. While her groupies were telling Leah to stop, Violet took the opportunity to spit in Leah's face and get away, looking back once she was a little ways away only to laugh as Leah screamed after her.

* * *

 

Rosaline didn't go to school. Her father thought it was best to keep her at home, always homeschooling her, or at least, trying to. Rose was always wandering off, her wandering mind never seeming to rest. That was the reason she was roaming the halls of their new house, fingertips running along the walls as she passed by door after door before coming to a stop in front of one. Looking at it, she moved to face the door, reaching out to twist the handle before pushing it open.

A sudden rush of sadness overcame Rose as she stepped inside the room, staring at one spot in the center of the room. " _Eye for an eye. Tooth for a tooth._  A bad man. Makes my limbs hurt." She muttered to herself, then turned, walking out of the room and gently closing the door behind her. Travelling downstairs, Rose made her way into the kitchen, where she saw a woman with Down syndrome and long dark hair walking inside.

"I like your dress. You look very pretty in it." Rosaline said softly, making the woman turn to her and smile.

"You are a very pretty girl. This house likes you." The woman said, looking at Rosaline with a knowledge that seemed beyond her years. They both had this knowledgeable gleam in their eyes that was hard to spot if you didn't share that same gleam.

"Thank you, you're a very pretty girl as well. I'm glad this house likes me, I like this house as well." Rose said, a small smile playing at her lips as she watched the woman smile at the compliment before turning toward the doorway of the kitchen. Rose nodded and made herself a glass of water, silently sipping on it as she heard her mother give a satisfied yell.

Vivien had been working on removing the wallpaper that had been put up over the mural on the walls all morning. As she finally managed to peel off a large section, she let out a little shout of victory, stepping back to look at what she had uncovered when a sudden voice came from behind her.

"You're gonna die in here."

Screaming, she turned around to see a young woman staring at her with a serious expression.

"Who are you? What are you doing? What are you doing here?" Vivien asked quickly, only to hear yet another voice sounding from the kitchen. Another uninvited guest.

"Adelaide." A southern woman's voice called, followed by the clacking of heels against the wood floor. "Adelaide." An older woman appeared from the hall wearing a dress with flowing sheer sleeves, covered in a large blue painted flower design. "Adelaide." The woman turned and spotted the young woman obviously named Adelaide, walking over and touching her arm, making the young woman turn to look at her. "Adelaide. I put on Dora the Explorer for you, so you would sit and watch it."

"It was Go, Diego, Go. I don't like it." Adelaide retorted, making Vivien realize now that this young woman with Down syndrome was the older woman's daughter.

"Oh, brown cartoon characters. You can't tell the difference." The southern woman said to her daughter, waving off her retort.

" _Excuse me._ " Vivien said, interjecting herself into their conversation, causing the two women in front of her to turn their attention to her.

The southern woman was rubbing her hand up and down Adelaide's arm, flashing a smile to the homeowner. "Hi."

" _Hi_." Vivien said, looking at the two women questioningly.

"I'm Constance, your neighbor from next door, and this is my girl, Adelaide." The older said, introducing the two of them to Vivien. Adelaide gave a smile and a nod to Vivien.

"Hello." Vivien said, still looking questioningly at the two women before her.

"Go  _home_ , Addy. Now." Constance said, watching as her daughter left the room before turning her attention to Vivien, scoffing. "That girl is a monster. I love her, and I'm a good Christian, but Jesus H. Christ, you know, if they'd invented some of those tests a few years ago, I would have..." Constance said, trailing off at the end as she slowly made her way across the room.

"How did you get into my house?" Vivien questioned, watching the woman carefully.

"You left your back door open." Constance said, then smiled at Vivien. "Although I have to tell you, Addy will always find a way in. She has a bug up her ass about this house. Always has." Constance said, then turned to the items on a table, abruptly changing the topic of conversation. "You have the  _loveliest_ things."

"Thank you." Viv said, carrying out the end as she hoped this woman would leave.

"Have you got a dog?" Constance asked, turning to look at Vivien.

Taken aback, Vivien nodded. "I-I do have a dog, yes."

"I run a little kennel out of my house. Doggy daycare kind of a thing and..."

"How nice."

"Well, I prefer purebreds. I adore the  _beauty_  of a long line, but there's always room in my home for mongrels." Constance said, smiling.

As Vivien chuckled slightly and turned to put down the tool she had been using to scrape the wallpaper off the walls, Constance pocketed a few items of silverware, then stepped toward Vivien, who was now looking back at her.

"Oh. Oh, my. Look at those earrings. Are those  _real diamonds_? Not that home-shopping shit?"

"No." Vivien said, uncomfortable with just how close Constance was getting to her. Maybe she should have held onto the scraper tool a bit longer.

"I used to have diamonds like that. Different pair for every day of the week. Did your husband give them to you?"

"He did. Mhm."

"They always do when you're young and pretty." Constance said, then turned and walked away, running her hand over the mantelpiece of the fireplace.

"Are you southern?" Vivien asked, causing the woman to turn around with a smile on her face.

"Proud Virginian. The old dominion, born and bred." She said, then blew what Vivien assumed to be dust off of her fingers. "Thank you for noticing. I came out here to be a movie star. Did the screen tests and everything. But  _nudity_  was the big deal then. The morals were just beginning to collapse, and I wasn't about to have my  _green pasture_  flashing 70 feet high for every man, woman and child to see. So I took that little butterfly of a dream and put it in a jar on the shelf. And, uh, soon after came the mongoloid and, of course, I couldn't work after that."

Vivien stood silently watching and listening to this strange woman until she  _finally_  saw an opportunity to interrupt her without seeming too rude.

"It has been  _so great_  to meet you. I just, you know... I wasn't prepared for guests at all." Vivien said, making up an excuse that didn't seem too rude. It also wasn't entirely an excuse. The house wasn't ready for guests to come over, especially guests of the  _uninvited_  type.

Constance seemed to understand this as she smiled and shook her head. "I'm gone." She said, waving off Vivien's worries. "Oh, I brought you this." She said, standing up and pointing at the container she had come in holding but forgotten about. "You know, a little, um, housewarming."

"Thank you." Vivien said, smiling as she walked over to Constance, who had been holding out the container until Vivien reached to take it. She then pulled it back.

"Addy wanted to bake you a pie, but she tends to  _spit_  in the cooking, so I thought this would be better. Help get rid of some of that bad juju." Constance said, finally handing Vivien the container before giving her the barest hint of a confused expression. "I don't remember your name."

"Right, no. I never got a chance to tell you my name." She said, a bit bitchy just because wanted this random neighbor to leave her house already. "My name is Vivien Harmon."

"Anyway, relax and enjoy." Constance said immediately as Vivien stated her name. "Let me know if you need any help with that pup."

"Will do." Vivien said, nodding and watching as her rude neighbor finally began to make a move toward the exit.

"I'm glad you're getting rid of that wallpaper. I thought those people were supposed to be stylish." Constance said, referring to the owners before the Harmon's, chuckling as she walked out of the room and toward the front door, Vivien following her to make sure she did, in fact, leave. As they left the room, Viv opened the container in her hands and saw a little bundle of dry leave tied together with red string.

"It's sage. For cleansing the...  _spirits_  of the house. Too many bad memories in here." Constance said, looking down at the floor before leaving through the front door.

* * *

 

Later that night, as Vivien strode through the house burning the sage, Rosaline stepped out of her bedroom smiling at her mother as they both looked up at the pull cord hanging from the ceiling that brought down the stairs that went up into the attic. They carefully climbed up the stairs, Rose helping her mother up, then stood in the dark of the area. Rose walked forward before Vivien could stop her, and pulled the cord that turned on the lights.

Vivien screamed at the sight in front of them before rushing to cover her daughter's eyes. Rose just barely got a glimpse of the black latex suit hanging from the suspension lines anchored on a support beam for the roof. " _He liked leather, not latex_. That's why it's been put away." Rose murmured as Ben ran up into the attic. Vivien looked at their daughter strangely before turning to Ben, who was wondering what had happened and if they were okay. All Viv had to do was point to the hanging suit for Ben to understand and chuckle.

" _Ohh_. I guess these guys were into the kinky stuff, huh?" Ben joked, causing his wife to elbow him in the ribs and motion to Rose, who she was still covering the eyes of, with her head. Ben cleared his throat and gave his wife a sheepish look.

At this point, Violet ran up the stairs and turned to look at her family. "What happened?... Holy shit." She chuckled, looking at the latex suit.

"Let's get rid of it." Vivien said, carefully turning her daughter around before unclasping her hands from her eyes. "Come on. Let's go downstairs. Come on." She said, leading both of her daughters back down the stairs of the attic, leaving Ben to get rid of the suit.

* * *

 

This day was different than the others. There was a shift in the house, and Rose felt it as she opened her bedroom door and walked out into the hallway, looking left and right. Her father had a patient in his study, and Rose and all of the others were told to keep out. Especially Rose, as she tended to wander aimlessly. This day, as she made her way down the staircase to the first floor of the house, she began whistling a tune, her steps slow and and seemingly timed as she made her way to the bottom.

Once on the first floor, she slowly walked through the hall as she made her way to the kitchen in order to something for breakfast. Walking past the doorway to her father's study, still whistling that same tune, she stopped for just a moment. " _Do you believe in God_?" She whispered, then began whistling again as she made her way to the kitchen to get a bowl of oatmeal.

Ben, sitting in his chair across from Tate, facing the doorway, heard his mysterious daughter before he saw her silhouette stop outside the door. Sighing, he closed his eyes for a moment before looking back up at Tate, giving him a small apologetic smile, but said nothing on the matter. He would have to have a word with Rosaline later.

The look that flickered in Tate's eyes as he heard Rose pass by almost made a shiver run down Ben's spine.

In the kitchen, Rose made herself a bowl of oatmeal and carried the warm bowl upstairs until she made it upstairs and to the area at the end of the hall where the pull cord for the stairs to the attic was. She stood quietly, staring up at the cord as she would occasionally spoon a bit of oatmeal into her mouth and swallow the bland mush.

It was a bit hard for her to tell how long she had been standing there when she felt a presence behind her, but she didn't turn around. She silently took notice of that the previously warm, almost hot bowl in her hand was now cooled down significantly, but the weight had not reduced by much as far as she could tell.

"I think it's supposed to taste better if you actually put something in it." A voice behind her said, making her turn around to face this new person.

It was a boy that looked to be around her age, he had dirty blonde, almost brown hair, and dark brown eyes that held a mischievous, teasing glint, as well as a deep knowledge she had only seen in one other person so far being in this house.

Tilting her head to the side in confusion, Tate nodded his head to the bowl of plain oatmeal resting in her hands, squinting slightly as she turned her clear gaze from him to the bowl, then back to him again, a smile gracing her lips.

"I was so excited to see him again, I forgot." She said quietly, then turned her attention back to the entrance to the attic.

"Who were you going to see in the attic?" Tate asked the girl, furrowing his brow as he glanced up at the attic door.

Looking over at Tate, she stared straight into his eyes. " _Don't ask questions you already know the answer to. You're smarter than that._ " She said, making his eyes widen slightly as she turned her attention back to the attic door, eating another spoonful of the plain, cold oatmeal.

After having walked in on the girl's sister cutting herself, Tate expected the sister to be the same, depressed and self-harming, but she was... Not what he was expecting. Stepping forward, Tate pulled the cord and released the staircase that allowed access to the attic, then looked at the girl with his eyebrows furrowed and left her to her own devices.

* * *

 

"You mind if I tape this?" Dr. Harmon asked, holding a tape recorder as he walked over to his chair.

"No." Tate replied, watching the doctor sit down and place the recorder on the table between them.

"You taking your medications?" Ben asked, watching Tate.

"Yes." Tate replied as he laid back on the couch. Not one of those classic shrink couches, just a normal couch, but Tate was going to lay back regardless.

"Any side effects?" Ben asked, causing Tate to look over at him as he answered.

"I was taking them at night, but they kept me up."

"And what'd you do?"

"Started taking them in the morning."

"Light sensitivity is pretty common."

"Maybe. Yeah, I think so." Tate said thoughtfully, looking up at the ceiling.

"When I was in medical school, they brought in this C.I.A. Interrogator to help us better identify who was lying. This guy was like six foot...  _fifty,_ crew cut. He must've been one hell of an interrogator because I'll tell you somethin', I'd be  _terrified_  to lie to him." Ben said, watching as Tate sat up from where he had been lying down then stood to his feet, looking down at him.

"You think I'm lying to you?"

"Light sensitivity isn't a side effect of lexapro, Tate." Ben stated, watching as Tate moved to a seat farther away from Ben and sat down.

"So  _you_  lied to  _me_."

"What is important, that is, if you're telling the truth about doing these things to your classmates, if you are actually a danger to society, the law says that I have to report you to the police." Ben says plainly, watching as Tate rocked back and forth in his new seat.

"Did you call them?" Tate asks the psychiatrist curiously.

"Not yet. I've treated psychotics before and people with the right combination of chemical imbalance and psychological damage that can't be reached." Ben explained, standing up and walking across the room to stand in front of the teenage boy.

Tate looked at Ben with a worried look in his eyes as he raised his brow and opened his mouth just slightly.

"You think that's me? You think I can't get better?"

" _You_?" Ben asked in a teasing tone, scoffing before continuing, "Are you kidding me? You're  _hopeless_." He finished, the both of them laughing. " _Everybody_  can get better, Tate.  _Everybody_. I just think you're scared. Of what, I'm not sure yet. Maybe rejection, certainly because of what your father did to you." He said, part of him thinking of his daughter and how he had hoped for her to get better, but was now taking her completely off of her medications at the insistence of his wife.

"I was afraid my big dick wouldn't work." Tate said it so straightforwardly that Ben couldn't help but chuckle.

"What?"

Tate chuckled as well and nodded. "Yeah, that's why I didn't take the meds. I was afraid my dick wouldn't work. Because I met someone." He said, glancing over at the crack in the doorway where he could see not only Violet spying from around the corner, but also Rosaline, who was dancing in the background to music that wasn't there.

* * *

 

Holding up his wrist to Violet as he sat on the floor of her bedroom, he pointed at the faded scar across his wrist. "This one I did after my dad left. I was 10, I think." He had to think about the number. It was somewhere around 10. Looking over at the fresher, healing cuts on Violet's wrist, he listened to her explain them to him.

"Last week, first day at my new school. Sucks."

"Westfield, right? The  _worst_. I got thrown out of there."

"I  _hate_  it here. I hate everyone. All their bougie designer bullshit. East Coast was much cooler. I mean, at least we had weather."

"I love it when the leaves change." Tate said, staring at the girl's face as they sat facing each other.

"Yeah, me too." There was a sparkle in her eyes as she said it, realizing they had so much in common.

Tate stood up and turned around, walking over to the blackboard she had hanging on the wall behind the wooden desk.

"Why'd you move here?" Tate asked, not looking back at Violet.

"My dad had an affair." Turning around, Tate had a sad look in his eyes as he stared down at Violet. "My mom  _literally_  caught him in the act."

"That's horrible. If you love someone, you should never hurt them.  _Never_."Tate said, watching as Violet's eyes kept that sparkle, the fascination growing within them.

"Right? I know. And the worst part is that six months earlier, my mom had, like, this  _brutal_  miscarriage. The baby was seven months old, and we had to have this macabre funeral. Have you ever seen a baby coffin?" Violet explained everything as Tate wrote one word on the board. ' _TAINT_ ' was spelled out in white chalk.

Tate walked back over and sat down in front of Violet, reaching over and taking hold of her hand, pulling it toward his as he gently rubbed his thumb over the self-inflicted injuries. "I'm sorry." He whispered, making Violet's mind blank.

In a slight panic, but managing to keep her cool, she stood up and turned away from him, stepping over to where her iPod was docked.

"Why are you seeing my dad?" She asked, trying to change the topic to anything else.

"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to. You're smarter than that." Before he realized what he was saying, Tate had repeated the words Violet's sister had said him the first time they had spoken. Not that there had been a second time yet.

They hadn't heard the sound of the bedroom door open, but as Violet pulled her iPod out of the docking station and the music playing stopped, Rosaline appeared, silently looking at the two.

"So small. She cried for weeks. Maybe months. Time flows so differently here, I'm not sure." She said quietly, startling the two in the room, who quickly turned their attention to her, seeing her now staring at the word on the board.

Violet frowned and set her iPod down before walking over to Rose, turning her around by her shoulders and pushing her towards the door.

"Get  _out_  of here space case!" She yelled, making Tate frown and take a step forward. It was then that they heard Ben's voice.

"Hey! Don't push your sister around, and I told you to stop calling her... That." Ben trailed off as his eyes passed by his daughters and saw Tate standing there in Violet's bedroom. "What are you doing in here?"

"We were just listening to music, dad." Violet said, clenching one of her hands at her side. Her dad always did this shit, sticking up for his  _precious little Rosaline_ , but screw Violet if she just wanted to listen to some music with someone other than  _herself_. It wasn't as if Rose would sit down and listen to music, or was even relatable, the weirdo was always doing something weird. Like, she couldn't sit and listen to music, but she could dance to a song that wasn't even there?

"You need to leave, Tate. I'm sorry. You shouldn't be in here. I think you know that. Please." Ben said, ignoring Violet's tone as he motioned with his hand for Tate to leave, pulling Rosaline over to his side with a hand around her shoulders.

Looking up into Ben's eyes, Tate clenched his jaw before speaking. "What's that thing you think I'm afraid of? Fear of rejection?" He asked rhetorically, then glanced at Rose before walking past the doctor.

Once Tate had left the room, Ben Harmon turned his attention back to his first daughter. "Stay  _away_  from him." He said, meeting Violet's eye.

"Dad,  _nothing..._ " Violet started, only to be cut off by her father.

"You  _heard me_!" Ben yelled firmly before turning walking out of the bedroom, his hand still gripping Rosaline's shoulder and keeping her close to his side.

Violet glared after her dad, clenching her jaw tightly as she watched the two of them walk off.  _So_ _ **fucking**_ _stupid._  She thought, standing up to go into her bathroom and handle this stress the way she usually did.

* * *

A few days later, Vivien and Rosaline were walking into the kitchen after going out and buying a few items they would need for dinner later that evening when the two women heard a loud sound while unpacking the groceries from the two cloth bags on the counter. Well, Vivien was unpacking the contents of the bags, Rose was staring sadly out the window at the backyard.

Turning around, Vivien gasped and grabbed her daughter's arm, jerking her attention away from the window where she had seen Adelaide walking to the back door. All of the cabinet doors were open, as well as the doors to the refrigerator and stove. It was only a second later when Vivien heard Addy's laughter from the doorway and rushed over to see the woman standing there laughing.

"What are you doing?" Vivien asked, receiving only laughter in reply. "Why are you  _in my house_?" Adelaide continued laughing, pointing behind Vivien. The twins were rude and liked to play pranks on people. Adelaide had told them when they first stepped foot on the property that they would regret it. That they would die in there.

" _You're gonna regret it_." Rosaline murmured as she looked at Adelaide with a small smile, then turned her attention to the two boys standing behind her mother. " _Go away._ " She whispered to the two of them, who promptly looked back at Rose with frowns before disappearing in all of their goriness.

After a phone call to the Langdon residence, Constance was now sitting at the island in the house, pulling a cigarette out of her cigarette holder as Hallie sat on her dog bed, barking at Adelaide.

"I want you to  _stay out_  of my house." Vivien said, closing the last of the cabinet doors. "Do you understand?" She questioned, walking around to stand on the opposite side of the island, next to Ben, who had also made his way down to the kitchen.

"Can I smoke in here?" Constance asked, her lighter already open and on fire, ready to light her cigarette.

"No." Vivien said almost immediately, making Constance stop and look at Viv as though she had never heard the word 'no' before.

"Adelaide," Vivien continued, "answer me please."

Adelaide glanced over at Vivien before returning her gaze to the dog who had been yapping almost constantly.

"Can I... pet your dog?"

"No. Adelaide, I want you to stay out of the house. I want you to stop coming in and opening things up and telling me that I'm gonna die." Vivien said, a serious expression on her face as Ben frowned while looking at the woman across the island from them.

"She said that?" Ben asked as Constance just laughed and stroked her daughter's hair.

"She says that to everybody."

"Not to Rosaline." Adelaide said, looking at the girl who stood to her right, on the side of the island alone, a smile on both of their faces as their eyes met.

"Yes, well, everybody  _else_  then." Constance said, chuckling as she eyed Rosaline, whom she had just met before tapping her daughter on the arm. "Say you're sorry, Addy."

"No. They did it." Adelaide replied to her mother.

"Who did it?" Vivien asked.

"The twins." Adelaide said, looking at Vivien with a glimmer in her eyes.

"Shh." Constance shushed her daughter quickly, her expression going serious quickly as she eyed the new homeowners.

"Can I... pet your dog?"

"No. Adelaide, listen to me." Vivien started, walking around the island and her daughter to stand in front of the woman. She bent over a bit to be eye-level to her and put her hands on either side of her face. "I want you to stop coming in here without permission. Am I clear?" Vivien was harsher than she needed to be, and Constance immediately tensed up while Ben stood upright from his position of leaning on his palms against the counter.

"Vivien." He started, only to be cut off by his wife.

" _Am I clear_?" She asked yet again.

" _Yes_." Adelaide answered, making Vivien removed her hands from the girl's face and stood back upright.

"Thank you."

If looks could kill, Constance would be a murderer right about now. Several times over, in fact, but putting that aside, right now, if Constance's eyes had the ability to set someone aflame, Vivien would be burning hotter than a whore in church. But she covered it well as Vivien moved away from her daughter, and stood up herself. She put a smile back on her face and rubbed her daughter's arm.

"Time to  _go_ , Addy." As the two women stood up, Adelaide waited for her mother to walk by before bending down and reaching out to the dog, wanting to pet the small fluffy thing. The problem is, said small fluffy thing didn't want to be pet, and growled at Addy's hand as it drew nearer, nipping at her fingers when they were within range.

"Hallie!" Ben yelled, as if that would ease the dog's agitation.

"She shouldn't have done that." Adelaide said, then walked out of the house, passed her mother.

Constance stood in the backdoor, chuckling tensely as she looked at Vivien. "Sorry about all this." She said, looking out through the door to make sure Adelaide was going back to the house before turning to look back at Vivien. "You  _touch_  my kid  _one more time,_  and I will  _break your goddamn arm_."

* * *

 

Ben sat on the couch in his office, flipping through a stapled document after being put on hold while trying to report Tate as dangerous, but not having the proper information such as his social security number. The phone was now on speaker, playing some shitty  _muzak_  as he waited to talk to someone that could actually do something about Tate. It was then that the sliding door to his office opened, revealing Moira, their  _maid_  that dressed way to skimpily than should be allowed. Frankly, Ben was amazed that his wife had even hired this woman simply based on how she was dressed and acted.

"May I clean in here?" Moira asked, holding the bucket of cleaning materials.

"It's not a good time, Moira." He said, the attempt to keep his eyes from roaming the expanse of exposed thigh where anyone could see the garters she wore holding up the black stockings was much harder than he wished it was.

"It's Thursday. I get off in twenty minutes. If I don't do it now, it's not getting done until Monday." She continued, halfheartedly brushing the feather duster in her hand along the bookshelf as she gazed at her employer. "Am I distracting you?" She asked, running the feather duster along her neck before noticing that he turned his gaze back to the papers in his hands.

Deciding to rekindle her attempts, she took a few slow steps over to him, pulling open the buttons of the top half of her maid uniform, revealing the black lace of the bra underneath before she gripped her breast in her hand while leaning down toward him.

"Why don't you touch me a little?" Moira asked teasingly.

"Get out." He said.

"What are you afraid of? Your wife's not home. She's probably at pilates. I won't tell." She ended the sentence by unsnapping one of the garters at her thigh before taking another step forward, getting closer to where she was standing between his legs. "I didn't tell when you saw me playing with myself the other day."

"Please just go." Ben said, back up on the couch and holding an arm up in front of himself to keep her away.

"Did you touch yourself after?"

"Please just go." He begged, his tone quieter.

"You did. Do it again." His hand gripped the leather of the couch cushion as he tried to restrain himself. "Show me."

It was then that Ben glanced at the sliding door behind Moira after the hinges creaked and saw Rosaline standing there, staring in at them wide-eyed. It was the first real, non-dazed expression he had seen on her face since they had finally weaned her off of the pills. It had been a month since they had moved into the house, long enough for them to get her off of the medication. When their eyes met, Rose turned and ran away from the room faster than you would think someone who generally wore a dazed expression would. Most of the time it was incredible what grace she had, and now was no exception.

"Shit!" Ben yelled, pushing Moira away from him before running to the door and pushing it open, running after his daughter.

"Rosie! Rosaline!" He yelled after her, then smacked his hand against the wood of the door frame. " _Dammit_!"

Rosaline had ran up the stairs and down the hallway that led to the entrance to the attic. She jumped up and grabbed onto the pull cord and yanked it down, careful not to get hit by the stairs before she ran up them and then pulled them up after herself. Once she was in the safety of the attic, Rose walked on in the semi-lit space of the attic and pulled the cord, the false lighting of the light bulb overhead now illuminating the space. Stepping over quietly, Rose sat down on the floor and looked over to where her friend was after hearing the rattling of chains. It was sad that he was still chained up, but there wasn't much she could do about it.

"Hey Beau, you wanna play?" She asked, making the boy across from her smile and jump up in happiness before rolling the red ball to her. Rose wiped at her eyes and stayed in the attic for a while before she heard the faint yelling of her mother and father yelling downstairs. It was was then that Rose went over to Beau and they laid down, quietly holding each other. The soft comfort of another person was a welcome difference to the both of them.

* * *

 

Violet came home a little while later through the back door leading into the kitchen. She glanced at her mom and gave a brief smile before turning and hoping she could just make it upstairs to her room. Au contraire, Vivien stepped forward with a worried look.

"What happened to your face?" She asked her daughter, who turned to look at her, showing the whole of the bleeding scratch above her left eyebrow.

"Fell down." Violet answered, briefly glancing to the side as her mother sighed.

"Come here. Sit. Sit, sit, sit." Vivien said, walking around the island to open the cabinet next to the stove and grab a first aid kit. "Boy or girl?"

"Girls. Three of them." Violet answered, sitting on a stool.

"Hope they look worse than you do." Vivien half-joked, getting a halfhearted smile from her daughter in return. "Do you know their names?"

"I'm not narcing."

"You know, we can easily move you to a different school." Vivien said, walking back around the island to sit on the stool in front of her daughter. "There are a lot of  _really_  good private school right in this neighborhood."

Violet simply shook her head. "I'm not running away. I'm not scared of them."

"Not afraid of anything." Vivien said, smiling as she recalled a memory that seemed like it was from so long ago. "It's like that tie in kindergarten when you insisted that I bring you home from the slumber party 'cause all the other girls were sleeping with the night light on." She said, pressing a cloth against Violet's nose briefly. "I know you've gotten the short end of the stick lately. This move and... Your dad and I haven't exactly been great to be around."

"Why don't you guys get divorced if you're so miserable?"

"We still love each other."

Violet scoffed at this. "You could have fooled me. I thought you hated each other. Well, at least you hated him. I don't blame you. He's a shithead." Violet said, then stopped and looked at her mother. "Sorry."

Vivien simply gave a little puff of a laugh and smiled. "It's okay. He was a shithead. You know, we've got a lot of history. Your dad's been through a lot. I've been through a lot. Guess we need each other."

"What are you scared of? You said I'm not scared of anything. So, what scares you?" Violet asked after a pause, watching her mother.

"Lately? Everything... Life will do that to you." Vivien said with a small shrug, looking down at her hands.

* * *

 

It was a few days later when Rosaline felt another shift within the house. It was practically humming in anticipation for whatever was to come. The usual sounds of garbled voices were clearer to her now that she was off of the medication, and it made it easier for her to wander around the house, her head still stuck in the clouds. The only thing that made things harder was avoiding her father.

By the time the afternoon came around, Rose felt as if the walls were vibrating around her, and her ears began to ring as the usual garbled voices were practically screaming, drowning out all other noise. It was so  _loud_.

Making her way down to the basement, it was only when her foot finally touched the basement floor did all of the voices go away, leaving her silence, and that clear, distinct  _ringing_  in her ear. Rosaline walked around the basement for a minute, just absorbing the sights and smells of it before she stood in the doorway of a room where Tate was sitting in the middle in a chair, a random girl was standing in front of him, and Violet was standing just in front of herself, one finger on the light switch.

Tate's eyes met Rose's over her sister's shoulder, and the ringing stopped.

" **Get the lights _._** "  _Click._

They were all plunged into darkness. That is, until a light overhead began to flash, the hum it made as the electricity to it was cut on and off struggling to keep up with the light itself. Tate was still sat in the chair and began to laugh maniacally as his body jerked in the chair, his form changing once or twice to something much more sinister. As she saw it, Rose muttered quietly to herself, " _What have you done to my baby_."

" _ **Coke whore! Coke whore! Coke whore!**_ " Tate chanted, ending with a scream before he got up and pushed the girl to the ground, straddling her from behind. Just as it had been in the chair, there were a few moments where it wasn't Tate holding the screaming girl down.

Honestly, this entire situation was making Rosaline wonder where their parents were, but as she watched the girl writhing on the ground underneath Tate and whoever the other figure was, Rosaline couldn't help but feel a little bit numb to it all. Especially once her sister began screaming for Tate to stop. And there Tate stood, behind Violet and in front of Rosaline, watching with a smile on his face for a moment before turning around to face Rose. He lifted up a single finger to his lips as they made eye contact in the strobing light.

Once Tate looked back to where their creature feature was holding the girl down on the floor, he noticed that Rose had stepped forward, and as the creature appeared before Violet, reaching out to her face, and Violet screamed, Rosaline and the creature made eye contact, and  _precious_ Rosie shook her head. It was then that both Tate and the creature appeared standing over the girl on the ground, and a single word was uttered out of her mouth before her face was marred with deep gashes on her left cheek.

" _Mommy?_ "

The lights were turned on by Rosaline, who watched the girl writhe around on the ground a few more time, screaming until she pushed herself up and onto her feet, pushing her way past Violet and Rosaline before running up the stairs of the basement. Violet turned and ran after her, yelling for the girl to wait before stopping to turn and look at Tate, who leaned against the entryway that split the two sides of the basement.

"I don't think she'll be bothering you anymore." Tate said, smiling at Violet as though he had just done her a favor.

"What was that?!" Violet asked, a slightly hysterical look in her eyes.

"What are ya talkin' about? She kneed me in the balls and going away. She must've run into a wall or something."

"No, I saw something!" Violet said, tears in her eyes as she remembered the thing that had almost touched her.

"What are you talk- Violet, you're talking crazy. This is cool. We showed that bitch." Tate said, furrowing his brow as he stood up from his position and walked toward Violet.

Violet, however, was having none of it. She shook her head and spoke through clenched teeth. "Get out. I never want to see you again." She said, pointing to the door that led outside through the basement.

With a confused expression on his face, Tate moved toward her once more, only to be roughly pushed back by Violet, who then stumble backwards and turned away from him, running up the stairs and to the first floor of the house, away from Tate.

" _I THOUGHT YOU WEREN'T AFRAID OF ANYTHING!_ " Tate screamed, only to hear the door slamming as his response.

Rosaline walked out from around the corner, eyeing Tate curiously. Tate shakily took a breath and turned around, looking at the mystery of the Harmon household. She was a puzzle piece that just didn't fit.

"You're afraid too, aren't you?" He asked, his voice wavering. Rose simply shook her head in response, meeting his gaze head-on, her eyes filled with curiosity and that deep well of knowledge, while his own were filled with intense apprehension. "Why not? Why aren't you afraid too?" He asked through a clenched jaw, his voice tight with choked back emotion.

"Because, I'm not sure I can feel a lot of things anymore." She was soft spoken and her eyes were bright, not the kind of gaze someone would expect to experience from the same person that said that sentence.

"What... Happened to you?" Tate hesitate to ask, swallowing down that clump of emotions in his throat as he stepped toward her, watching her movements, which were few and far between. She was oddly still for someone who was still alive.

"I'll tell you all about it in time. I have a feeling we're going to be in this house for a while, after all." Rose said, a small smile coming to her lips as she took a step toward him, approaching him slowly, as if he was some upset animal.

Hell, he might as well have been.


	2. episode two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will be much shorter than the first. I'm adding this in while I'm currently a little over 2,500 words and 23 minutes into the episode, whereas the last chapter was nearly 10,000 words by the end. I doubt very seriously that I'll make it to that again, or in later chapters, but that is only because I won't be focusing as much on the rest of the family drama. Of course there will still be plenty about the other Harmons, just not nearly as focused on them as it was in the first.

Sitting up on her bed that morning, Rosaline was overcome with a sense of sadness. Her bare feet meeting the cold wood of the floor of her bedroom as she walked to the bathroom that was calling her name. She was getting better at telling where exactly the garbled voices were coming from, even if it was impossible to understand what they were saying. Stepping into the bathroom, Rose stepped over to the bathtub and looked down into it, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again, seeing an overweight woman laying in the tub filled with water, wearing a white nurses' uniform.

"I'm sorry. You were beautiful." Rosaline said, reaching down and stroking the woman's cheek before moving to unplug the drain, allowing the water that had filled to drain before exiting the bathroom.

Walking down the staircase, Rose stopped in front of the doors to her father's  _office_ , looking inside at the slightly distorted image of Tate sitting silently on the couch. When the sound of her Ben's phone vibrating on the table next to him distracted her father, Tate turned his attention to the door, mildly surprised to see Rosaline standing there before giving her a distorted smirk and turning his attention back to her father.

"So, what do shrinks think about when a wildly brilliant patient doesn't talk to punish said psychiatrist? I bet you think about sex." Tate said, staring blankly at Ben as he spoke.

"Do you think about sex a lot?" Ben questioned Tate flatly, staring at the young man with an expressionless face.

Tate nodded in response, seemingly pleased with the reaction he knew he was about to get.

"I think about one girl in particular. Your daughter. I jerk off thinking about her. A lot." He said, staring Ben Harmon in the eyes, watching as the man's upper lip twitched and his gaze hardened.

"I'm not comfortable with you talking about my daughter, Tate."

"Don't you wanna know what I do to her? Or which one it is I imagine? How I lay her down on the bed, and I caress her soft skin, make her purr like a little kitten? Your  _precious, sweet little girl._ She's a virgin. They get wet  _so_   _easily_." Tate said, a smile playing at his lips as he spoke to the psychiatrist, watching the man's eye twitch,  _just a bit_. But it was enough.

It was all Ben could do to keep from lunging at the young man across from him, and instead, the grip on the pen in his hand tightened. "Do you turn to these thoughts to comfort yourself in times of stress?"  _Piece of shit_.

Tate couldn't help the twitch his lip gave in satisfaction.  _Caught you_. "Actually, yes. I jerk off a lot to make the visions go away. The blood and the carnage. I want the thoughts to go away, and  _you're not helping me_."

"Well, we've only been working together a few weeks now." At this, Tate couldn't help but snicker.

"Well, you're sexual, right? Violet told me about the affair with the girl in Boston. Not  _much older_ than  _your_ kids, she said." Tate mentioned, watching as the man fiddled with the pen in his hand unknowingly.  _Bingo._

"Our time is up."

"Bullshit. I don't accept that."

"Our time is up for today, Tate." Ben repeated himself, keeping his voice calm and even as he spoke, staying seated even as Tate stood up and grabbed his brown leather messenger bag in one hand and walked out of the home office.

Once the young man was gone, slamming the door behind him, Ben sat forward in his seat and let out the breath he had been holding, sighing and rubbing his hands over his face in exasperation before the sound of his phone vibrating caught his attention  _once again._ Lifting it up, he checked the caller I.D. and sighed yet again before standing up and grabbing the device and answering it.

"I thought we had an agreement. Do I have to get this number changed?" He asked angrily into the phone before an all too familiar voice cut him off.

"I'm pregnant."

His stomach dropped, his heart stopped, his eyes widened, palms began to sweat, he was burning up and freezing cold. Everything was spinning and yet standing completely still.  _This could not be happening._

* * *

 

Later that same night, Tate stood over a sleeping figure, watching as she breathed slowly, her eyes closed and her body relaxed. He wasn't expecting to hear a voice interrupt that silent, peaceful time, much less was he expecting said voice to be coming from said sleeping figure.

"It's quiet for now. You can lay down." She said, opening her clear blue eyes to look at the figure at the end of her bed.

Tate stiffened immediately before relaxing and climbing onto the bed, laying down silently next to Rose, reaching up and brushing a piece of red hair away from her face, watching as she silently closed her eyes. They stayed in this position, their bodies not touching, just laying next to each other until the shrill sound of the houses alarm system rang out, causing Rose's eyes to snap open, only to see an empty space in the bed next to her.

The sound of her father's pounding footsteps down the hallway sounded as they quickly approached her room and then faded, the  _thumping_  of them making their way downstairs calmed her down. The sound of softer running footsteps also made her feel better, as her mother ran to Violet's room to check on her before running down the hallway to check on Rose, the look in her wide eyes worried and scared, as if someone had actually broken into the house.

"Mommy? It's okay, she just wanted to play." Rosaline explained as the alarm system finally turned off, not making her mother feel better as Vivien turned and left, grabbing a bat before running down the stairs and meeting her husband at the bottom, handing him the bat.

"Did someone break in?"

"Go back upstairs." Ben said, taking the bat from his wife.

"I'm calling the police." Viv said, turning around and heading back up the staircase and Ben held the bat in his hands, ready to swing at any intruder he saw as he slowly walked through the dark rooms of the house.

It was only when he heard the creaking hinges of the basement door opening that he turned around and cautiously made his way over to it, bat at the ready. Stepping closer to the door, he heard the faint sounds of giggling and sighed, walking down the stairs, still holding the bat until he made it to the bottom. Seeing Adelaide crouched there rolling a red ball into the pitch black side of the basement, Ben frowns and sighs, releasing his death grip on the bat and allowing it to relax in one hand at his side.

"Go home, Addy." Ben said tiredly as the girl continued giggling. "Come on." He said, turning and walking over to the door in the basement that opened up to reveal a staircase leading outside. Pulling open the door, Ben only stayed momentarily to make sure Adelaide left before closing the door and heading back upstairs.

Once back upstairs, Ben saw his wife standing in the doorway, her arms folded across her front as she watched her husband with worry.

"The police are on their way."

"Tell them to forget it. It was only Addy." He said, walking past his wife and into their bedroom, setting the bat down next to fireplace. "I'm gonna have someone come out and check all the windows and doors, though. If that little freak can get in, anyone can."

"You shouldn't call her that!" Vivien yelled, standing next to their bed, trembling.

"Are you okay? You're shaking." Ben asked, looking at his wife worriedly as she sighed and quickly closed their bedroom door, then walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, a sorrowful expression coming over her face.

"I haven't thrown up, Ben." She stated quietly, making his brow furrow slightly as he took a hesitant breath. "When I was pregnant with Violet, and even Rosaline, I was sick  _all_  the time, for two months straight. There's something wrong with this baby. I can feel it." Vivien rubbed her abdomen as she finished the sentence, looking up at her husband with tears gathering in her eyes.

"I'd be worried if you  _didn't_  think something was wrong after what  _you_  went through with your  _last_  pregnancy. Your anxiety level must be through the roof." Ben said, causing his wife to shake her head.

"Don't _shrink_  me."

He slowly stepped before her and knelt down, sighing.

"You know what I feel?" He whispered. " _This baby_  is why we moved here. It's our  _salvation_ , Viv." He explained, reaching up and brushing his hand over the back of her head, pulling her down for a kiss.

All the while, he couldn't stop thinking about Hayden and how the  _fuck_  he was going to deal with that problem.

* * *

 

Rosaline stood in the hallway, leaning against the wall while she listened to her father on the phone, speaking to Constance.

"Hello, Mrs. Langdon? It's Ben Harmon, Tate's therapist. Mrs. Langdon, I'm calling because I can't treat your son anymore..." Her father carried on with the conversation while Rose stepped back and noticed a woman with dirty blonde hair roaming through the halls.

Staying quiet, she watched with curiosity before understanding clicked in her mind, like a slot being filled.  _How moronic._  Rose thought, watching the woman run her hands along the wall before entering the kitchen where her father was, still on the phone with that  _bitch_. It wasn't long until they were both walking down the hallway toward the front door, her father acting the part of the caring psychiatrist, all the while making sure this woman left.

Once in the entryway, he returned his attention to the phone call still going on with  _Mrs_. Langdon, and Rosaline decided to take a page out of Addy's book, staring at the suspicious woman from the doorway of the living room.

"You're going to die in here." It wasn't a lie.

The woman turned her head swiftly to look at the girl, taking in her appearance, certainly ascertaining what role she would play in the little remake her friends were planning.

You see, the house knows things. It knows what's going on in your mind, and it uses it against you. It makes you see things, hear things,  _do_  things. The house doesn't  _like_  anyone, but it  _needs_  people. Well, the house  _didn't_  like anyone, until Rosaline stepped foot on the property. The house practically shivered with excitement every time she caressed the walls, her innocent hands making the floorboards tremble while she walked along the halls with a grace no other living person could ever hope to achieve.

Staring the woman before her in the eyes, Rose smiled. "Have a nice day." She said, then seemingly floated away, out of sight, making the woman wonder if it had been a part of her imagination before exiting the house, closing the front door behind herself.

* * *

 

It was two days later, a Friday, when Rosaline and her mother were standing in the kitchen, Vivien pouring herself something to drink while Rose stared at the reflection of Tate in the window while eating a specific parfait from her mother, who was just happy to see her taking in interest in things that  _normal_  people could understand. Food being number one. And so, there she sat, slowly eating her  _granola, blackberry, almond butter, Greek yogurt_ parfait, specially made for her by her mother when the backdoor opened, revealing their  _delightful_  neighbor Constance.

The old woman was holding a plate with two large chocolate cupcakes, and by now Rose had taken not that there were two candied flowers on top, a rose on one, and a violet on the other. It makes Rose giggle quietly, earning a glance from Constance, whose eyes light up and gleam with something sinister upon seeing her there, glancing about the room in search for her sister.

" _Avon calling_." Constance jokes, smiling at Vivien.

"Oh, Constance. Now's not a good time." Vivien said, trying to be kind to the woman.

"I just wanted to bring these by as a little piece offering for Addy disturbing your slumber."

"Thank you." Viv said softly, barely getting it out before the woman began talking again.

"I think I'm gonna have to start strapping her in at night again."

"Um... Well, I appreciate it. I'm not usually much of a cupcake girl myself, but..."

This earned a sharp laugh from Constance, who stared at Vivien as if she were stupid.

"They're not for  _you_. At  _your_  age? You might as well just  _Krazy Glue_ a stick of butter to your ass. These are for Violet and Rosaline." The woman says, flashing that crazy smile over at the young girl sitting at the island.

"Oh, I see a little... The flowers there."

"A candied violet and a candied rose. One for both of your girls. They're from a  _wonderful_  Mexican market on Alvarado Street. I'll give you the name. Just  _don't go after sundown._ " The woman finished with a whisper, and Vivien nodded her head with a tight smile, reaching out to take the plate from Constance, who stopped and stared at her with a strange expression before glancing down at her stomach.

" _What_?" Vivien asked, tired of this old hag.

" _You're with child._ " Well, that wasn't what she was expecting. Glancing over at Rosaline, who seemed unfazed by this information, or perhaps just wasn't paying attention, Vivien looked back at Constance, a bit speechless. "I have the nose of a truffle pig. I could smell that little angel the  _second_  I walked in the door.  _Pheromones_."

"Wow." Vivien was actually amazed.

"So, uh, is Violet home as well? I'd like to hand these to both of them personally. I'm a sucker for penance."

"No, she's... She's not here." Vivien said, shaking her head.

Knowing what was to come, Rosaline finished up her parfait before standing up and putting the glass in the sink, then left the room, pausing in the doorway to glance back at Constance with a smile on her lips and a knowing look in her eyes before disappearing around the corner.

Walking upstairs and into the attic, Rose closed the hatch behind her before sitting on the ground, rolling the red ball back and forth between herself and Beauregard. It wasn't too long until Tate appeared, sitting beside her.

"He doesn't scare you?" Tate asked, looking over at his brother with sadness in his eyes.

"You still think something can scare me?" Rose replied, not looking away from the poor soul.

There was a small lull in the conversation before Tate spoke again, asking, "Why aren't you like the others?"

"Why do you want me to be like them so badly?" Rosaline asked him, catching the ball that had been rolled to her before rolling it back, a small smile on her lips.

"Why do you keep answering my questions with questions?" He inquired, now looking over at Rose, taking in the profile of her face.

Rose sighed and caught the ball once more, this time holding onto it for a moment as she looked over at Tate. "Why do you keep asking me questions?"

Tate's body stiffened for a moment under her gaze before he forced himself to relax. "Because, I'm curious. You're not like Violet. You aren't standing in a bathroom slitting your wrists, or avoiding me, even though  _you_  know everything, don't you? You know about the house and everything in it don't you?"

"I think you mean every _one_  in it, and no, I don't. I know there are spirits trapped here, but I don't know everything about it. I just know that we get along, this house and I." She briefly explained, make Tate frown just slightly before accepting that that was all the information he would get for now.

"So why do you come up here? Just to play with Beau?"

"Yes. I saw him in the window the day we came to look at the house, and he seemed so happy to see people that it made me smile. I wanted to be his friend, and I wanted to spend time with him. So I do. You know I spend almost all of my time at home, my parents don't send me to school. It's because, when I was ten, Ben began treating me like a patient. He noticed that I would stare at things that weren't there, I would talk to people that weren't there. In the beginning, it was just me being a kid with  _imaginary friends_ , but I kept growing and kept talking to them. I was thirteen years old when he first diagnosed me with psychosis and possible schizophrenia. He said that the ' _possibility of her having a psychotic break when she's older is too high for us not to put her on something._ ' My mother disagreed. She thought that if she just treated me like a normal child then I would be okay.  _Ben_  was having none of that, and so, I started taking whatever medications he could get his hands on to make me soar  _so_  high up into the sky that I wasn't even able to look down and see planet earth anymore." Rose's jaw was clenched and the grip she had on the red ball tightened until she sighed and relaxed, rolling the ball back across the space between them and Beau.

"That's terrible. If he really thought of you as his daughter then he shouldn't be  _forcing_  anything on you."

"That's the thing, Tate. He doesn't think of me as his daughter, I'm just another patient." Rose explained, then stood up and brushed off her clothes. "Did you know your mother is trying to poison my sister and I?" She asked, looking over at Tate, who had also stood up. Rage made an appearance in his eyes, as well as disgust at the mention of the  _cocksucker_. "It's because my father called her a few days ago and told her he couldn't keep treating you." She told him, watching his reaction silently.

"I meant though, you know?" Tate asked her, taking a small step toward her, looking down at her pale face.

"What?"

"Everything I told him that day. I meant it. It wasn't just to mess with him."

"Then tell me, which  _precious_  daughter were you talking about?" Rose questioned, stepping even closer to him, their bodies almost touching as they both tilted their heads towards each other.

A smile played on Tate's lips as both of them had the same teasing glint in their eyes, and they began to lean forward. It was then that the doorbell downstairs sounded and Rose realized how long they had really been in the attic. Time really did move differently in this house. Both of them paused and continued to stare into each other's eyes, still smiling, and Rose leaned forward, pressing her forehead against his.

"Next time, then." She whispered, then left the attic, casting one last glance with a smile on her lips toward Tate.

* * *

 

Upon closing the door to the attic, Rosaline heard her mother scream downstairs, and the doorbell which had been ringing incessantly stopped, making her tilt her head to the side slightly. It was then that she noticed Violet's bedroom door was open and she realized that something was wrong. The house was beginning to thrum with excitement, and the sound of voices coming from downstairs made her clench her teeth.

" _HEY! Put it on me!_ " Rose heard her mother scream from downstairs, which made her fists clench.

Tate appeared next to her in the hallway, staring blankly ahead as she was. "There are three of them. They all have knives and one has the ashtray used by R. Franklin, the man who murdered the two nurses stuck here. They're planning on doing some fucking reenactment with your Violet and your mom." As he explained what was going on downstairs to her, Rose felt herself slipping off. Maybe her father shouldn't have taken her off of those medications.

"I want your help. Keep them safe. Or as safe as you can without revealing anything. I'll take care of some other things." She said, feeling the thrumming of the house seeping into her bones, making her feel like she was vibrating from the inside out with  _murderous_  intent.

"I'll get Violet, you get Vivien. Get them to-"

" _The basement._ " They both finished Tate's sentence at the same time, nodding at each other before Tate disappeared and Rose slipped away down the stairs to hide in her father's study until she was ready to act.

Watching as Violet headbutt the brunette woman and shoved the man, making him stumble backwards and drop the ashtray, Rose felt proud as her sister took this opportunity to make a run for the kitchen, whether it was for a knife or just to get the hell out of the house didn't matter. As Vivien, who was tied to a chair, tripped the man, causing the chair to move and make the two women stumble for a moment as she kicked the man the best she could, one of the women knocking over the chair before they ran out of the room.

Tate was waiting in the opposite doorway of the kitchen, just out of view, and grabbed Violet when she ran in, turning to look behind her, his hand covering her mouth to muffle her screaming as he yanked her backwards out of view then pushed her up against the wall. The look of terror in her eyes made him a little giddy with excitement, but he covered it well as they both spoke quickly and quietly.

"Tate, they're trying to kill me and my mom." Violet's rushed words came out, out of breath and she softly panted.

"You have to get them to the basement." He stated, his expression serious.

" _What the hell are you talking about?_ " She asked him, confused as to why they would  _ever_  need to go down there again.

" _The basement._  Just do it." He said finally, giving her a little shake before stepping back, pressing his back against the opposite wall just before the two appeared, the blonde coming into the room and grabbing Violet, pulling her from the pantry before Tate disappeared.

While Tate was handling things on his end, Rosaline was standing quietly, watching as the man stood over her mother, who had been laid on her back on the ground, still tied to the chair. He looked around the room at the mural before looking back at Vivien.

"Some serious art, man. Why you tryin' to cover it up?" He asked, almost as he was blaming her for something.

"I decided I didn't like it." She said, part of her relieved as the man sat her back upright, the chair squeaking.

"It's all over, Mama. Nobody's comin' to help you." He said, walking back around to stand in front of her.

It was then that Rosaline noticed a mild disturbance in the flow of things. Adelaide had made her way cautiously into the house, after the women had escorted Violet upstairs for the first part of the plan. Drowning  _Gladys_  in the tub.

"You don't have to, you know. You could just stop it." Viv said, her voice chocked full of emotion, making the man smile.

"Oh, but I want to, silly."

At this moment, Vivien looked up and saw Rosaline standing behind Adelaide in the dining room, staring blankly at the man in front of her mother while she whispered in Adelaide's ear.

" _Go home, tell Constance that there are bad people in the house._ " Rose whispered, then turned her emotionless stare to her mother, whose eyes widened just slightly before settling back on Addy. She had never known their little spacey baby could have such a look in her eye before.  _Psychosis. 'Stop with the medications and the psych evaluations and all of it.'_  Vivien briefly recalled  _a_ diagnosis Ben had given their youngest and what she had told him when they first arrived to look at this house. Now she wasn't sure if that hollow look was a good or bad omen.

"Well, I don't think you're gonna kill me tonight 'cause I think that  _someone_  is going to stop this, and they're gonna  _get help_ , and you all are gonna  _fry_." Vivien said, directing her words towards Adelaide even as she looked up at the man in front of her, who simply snicker at the end.

" _Brutal._ " The man teased, then glanced behind him into the dining room, only to see nothing there, and Vivien felt the strange sensation of her hopes rising and her heart sinking.

And then there was the sound of water running coming from the bathroom upstairs, right above where Vivien was currently sitting against her will.

After having delivered her message to Adelaide, Rosaline made her way into the basement, waving off the Infantata as he swiped at her, not hesitating in her stride as she rounded the corner and stepped into the room where Tate was with the bathtub.

"Violet is smart, and these psycho's are dead-set on using actual artifacts of the murders." Rose said, staring into the bathtub full of water for a moment before Tate stepped forward placed his hands on her shoulders, leaning down and looking into her eyes.

"They're gonna be okay. Now go back upstairs before that jackass ruins everything. I'll make sure the idiot is taken care of." He said, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead before turning her around.

Rose nodded and walked out of the basement, heading back upstairs as quickly and quietly as she could to hide back in Ben's study until it was time.

While Rosaline was preparing to take care of business on the first floor, Tate decided it was time to do something about the stupid bitch that ate the poisoned cupcake. And so, he grabbed an axe before appearing in the empty upstairs bathroom, where the water was still running in the tub. The sound of the stupid blonde bitch that had cased the place beforehand talking from down the hall grated on his ears, and he tightened his grip on the handle, waiting until the perfect moment before walking quickly along the opposite wall of the bathroom, disappearing from the bitch's sight by vanishing into the wall.

"Hey. Where'd you guys go?" She asked upon seeing the figure walk out of view, stepping into the center of the room before turning around. Her stomach was  _killing_  her.

Rounding the corner before she turned around, Tate stepped into the doorway, then took a quick step forward as she turned, gripping the handle of the axe in both of his hands, he drew back and then slammed it into the woman's side, pulling it out and drawing back once more before hitting her in the same spot with it once more with a grunt, then disappears, leaving her alive to suffer, bleeding heavily.

Downstairs, Rosaline watching silently through the glass doors as the man struggles to latch a golden cross around her neck, rolling her eyes at her mother's pathetic attempt to get the man to free her hands by telling him to let her do it. He then leaned down and that said that he got it in her ear before standing back up and walking around in front of her, grabbing his knife.

Cutting Vivien's binds, he grabbed the nurse uniform for  _Maria_  and tossed it on the woman's lap, pulling her to stand up as she took hold of the outfit.

"Dress-up time. Get up. Don't try anything." He said, pointing the knife at Vivien.

"Could you turn around?"

"No." The man answered, staring at Vivien.

" _Then I will_." She said, turning her back to him before slowly pulling off the cardigan she had on, looking around for anything close enough that she could use as a weapon.

Quickly making a decision, Vivien tossed the uniform over her shoulder, hitting the man in the face with it before rushing to grab one of the fire pokers nearby. The man, however, not being completely useless, tossed the uniform out of the way while rushing forward and grabbing Vivien, knocking them both to the ground.

Rosaline, who had seen her opportunity as the man's gaze was focused on her undressing mother, had been quietly making her way up behind the man when her mother decided to  _go for it_. Her body immediately tensing as the two of them collided and the man was soon straddling her her mother of the ground and was pulling his arm back to stab her mother with the knife he was still wielding.

Stepping forward, Rose quickly grabbed the  _historic_  ashtray off of the ground and wrapped her free arm around his throat, tightening her grip as much as possible before slamming the heavy item into the side of the man's head, but not before he brought the knife he had been holding up in  _self-defense_  and getting and good slice on her arm, making her clench her teeth and let out an enraged  _growl,_ slamming the ashtray onto the back of his a few more times before he dropped limply in her hold. His body was too heavy for her to hold up for any real length of time, so she haphazardly threw him to the side, off of her mother who had still been beneath the man.

Looking down at her mother, she dropped the ashtray and held out her hand, helping to pull the woman to her feet before instructing her to go check on Violet. The woman was clearly shaken and nodded, a bit afraid of being in the same room with her younger daughter at the moment. The  _look_  that had been in her eyes as she held the man and slammed the ashtray into his head had been...  _terrifying_.

Upon running up the stairs on shaky legs, Vivien was expecting to run into the hallway and find her daughter, but instead just found one side of the walls smeared with a trail of blood, and blood trailed along the floor, making her panic as she ran into the bathroom, expecting the worst. But there was nothing. No body, but a lot of blood pooled on the ground, the originating point of the trail it would seem.

Panic began to set in as Vivien ran back down the stairs, seeing her oldest coming from the basement, making her heart pound. The girl stood at the bottom of the stairs and held out her hand to her mother, glancing back at the staircase and the door before the two of them ran out of the house.

"Wait, your sister!" Vivien yelled, turning back when she was in the doorway.

"Mom, come  _on! Rose is fine_!" Violet yelled, having thought she saw her sister rushing toward the front door when she emerged from the basement.

This seemed to satisfy Vivien enough, as the two of them soon rushed out of the house and began running down the sidewalk.

Meanwhile, in the house, Rosaline had been heading toward the kitchen in order to fix the wound, momentarily at the very least when the nurse who had been stabbed appeared before her in the kitchen, holding the first aid kit. Rose walked over to her and sat down on a stool, resting her bleeding arm on the counter while the ghost gave her a soft smile.

" _This may sting_." Maria said before cleaning up wound with antiseptic, the sting making Rose hiss quietly in pain, receiving an apologetic look from Maria. Quickly after cleaning it, Maria placed a few butterfly bandages along the wound, then wrapped it in gauze before turning her attention toward the doorway.

"Go, lead him down to the others." Rose said softly, smiling at the woman, watching as she disappeared to lure the man in the music room down into the basement. Meanwhile Rosaline cleaned up the first aid kit and stuck the garbage of the packet in her pocket before heading down into the basement shortly after the man.

Rosaline arrived just in time to see the man find his dead partner and see the two dead nurses before having his own throat slit and fall to the floor dead. Tate appeared at her side, along with Moira not long after, all of them silently staring down at the bodies of the two new trapped souls in the house, bleeding out on the concrete floor. About a minute later Constance slowly walked into the room, wearing her long silk lavender nightie and pink velvet textured robe.

" _Jesus H. Christ._ " She whispered, not taking her eyes off of the bodies. "Was this  _your_  handiwork?" Constance asked, referring to Tate.

"No." He says plainly.

"It was  _them_." Moira inputs, all of them still staring at the two bodies.

"We have to get rid of the bodies, if you want him to keep treating me." Tate says to his mother, just barely brushing his hand against Rosaline's.

"I'll get the shovel. You get the bleach." Moira uttered in a disinterested tone.

Before they all began to move to clean up this  _mess_ , Rosaline pulled the garbage from what Maria had used to patch up her arm from her pocket and shoved it into Constance's hand.

"I left and went straight to your house, you were cleaning up my arm when we heard my sister and mother screaming outside. Put this in your garbage in case anyone decides to get nosy." She explained briefly, watching as Constance sighed and shoved the garbage into the pocket of her robe.

And then they got to work.

* * *

 

The day the police were at the house questioning their parents, Rosaline and Violet were standing in the kitchen, just off the dining area where the others were. They were discussing what had happened, and where Rose had even been during the attack, when Rose explained that she had been in the attic, wanting to take a closer look at the stars when she saw a woman wander up to the front door through the window. Not knowing what was going on, she explained that she had stayed in the attic until she heard everything going on downstairs, where she snuck down and hid in Ben's office until she saw that the man was about to stab Vivien.

Rose had just finished explaining that she had ran over to the Langdon house when Tate had found her in the music room, holding her bleeding arm, and told her to run to his house and not to stop until she got there. She then went on to tell how Constance had allowed her inside after seeing her bleeding and helped clean her up, doing the best she could to keep it from getting any worse, and how she was glad Constance was home to help her, and that they had heard the two of them yelling from outside for help not long after she had began helping Rosaline.

Violet nodded along with everything, glad that her sister had made it out of there safely, and that all she had needed was a few stitches in her arm. That was more than Violet or Vivian had even needed.

There was  _one_  thing that had bothered Violet though. Once she and their mom had gotten somewhere safe, in one of the other neighbor's houses, Vivian had explained to her, briefly, what had happened in the music room, and how Rosaline had come after the man like a wild animal or something, and that the  _look_  she had in her eye made her  _worried._  Violet was aware that their parents had taken Rosaline off of her meds, and after getting curious one day and looking up a few of the medications her sister was on, she realized that treatment for  _psychosis_  as well as  _schizophrenia_  and  _bipolar_   _disorder_  were the main things she was being treated for. Now she wondered if any of that shit was  _real_.

Turning their attention toward the dining room, the two sisters saw the detectives standing up from the table, and so made their way over, stepping past the men and into the room to talk to their mother and father.

Ben stood up and walked over to meet the girls halfway, looking at the two of them before starting in.

"Girls, your mom said that you told her that Tate helped you escape?" He asked, furrowing his brow as he between them.

"Yeah. Thanks for not dragging him into all that." Violet said, Ben only receiving a nod from Rosaline in response.

"What was he doing in the house?" Ben asked, confused, to which Violet shrugged.

"How should I know?"

"Violet." Ben started, only for her to look at him incredulously.

"You think I let him in? I don't know why Tate was here. But I'm glad he was.  _You weren't._ " Violet said, then walked past Ben, stopping before she exited the room to turn around. "You were really brave, Mom." She said, then turned and left.

Once the sound of her footsteps had faded, Ben turned to Rosaline and gave her a wary look as he quickly considered how to approach what his wife had told him.

"Don't worry, it was nothing serious. I'm just glad I was able to keep mom safe." Rosaline said, cutting off any train of thought or words that may have been about to come out of Ben's mouth, taking the two adults in the room by surprise. "Hopefully they catch those other two soon, it was really scary being in that kind of situation." She said, frowning a bit while looking at the ground, then sighed and looked up at her parents, smiling a little at Vivien. "I'm happy you're safe, and the babies are okay." Rose stated, then left the dining area, her parents silent and stunned.

It wasn't until Vivien turned to meet her husband's same worried gaze did she understand that something wasn't right.

Ben didn't know what to say. He stood there silently for a moment before apologizing, really the only thing he felt he could do at this point. "I'm sorry I wasn't here."

"Me too. But you're here now."

"That's right. I'm home."

"No, you're not." Vivien stated, standing up from the chair at the dining table she had been seated in. "We're selling this house." That's all she said until she reached the same spot in the doorway where Violet had stopped, and turned to look at him, her arms crossing in front of her body protectively, as if what she was thinking about scared her, and Ben understood that after the attack that they had just been through.

What he wasn't expecting was for the thing his wife was thinking about that scared her so much to be one of their daughters. "Ben, that night... When Rosaline was standing behind that man... She didn't look scared. There wasn't a hysterical look in her eyes. She looked like a  _wild animal_. And she might as well have been."


	3. episode three.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize that Violet is only 15 in the series, but I'm going to say, for the purpose of this story and the fact that I don't want Rosaline to be a little preteen and make this weird, that Violet is 17, and Rosaline 16. Tate was 17 when he was gunned down, annd, this is where I am comfortable with their age differences. Sorry for not clarifying this earlier.<3

Having been in the kitchen getting a snack, Rosaline is caught up in the middle of a  _shit storm_  when both of her parents as well as Moira come into the room, all of them sporting some form of an upset expression upon their faces.

"I did  _not_  want to get physical with her, I had no choice! I have rebuffed every advance, and  _believe me_ , there have been many, but she just won't stop.  _Unbuttoning,_  and  _bending over_ , and..." Ben trailed off in disgust, no one noticing Rosaline standing there with her back to the group, but her eyebrows shot up into her hairline as she bit her lips together to restrain a chuckle.

"I don't mean to be presumptuous, but my days of romance are long over." Moira said, looking at Vivien with a straight face. Rosaline almost choked on the Pop-Tart she was eating, gaining the briefest glance from the adults of the room, who were entirely too consumed in their own conversation.

"Oh,  _please._  Is that why you prance around in that little maid's outfit like you're headed to a fetish ball? Don't wanna clean other people's houses in your own clothes,  _my ass_." Ben accuses the woman, obviously getting agitated by the young woman acting so  _innocent_  in front of his wife.

Vivien, on the other hand, is concerned as to why Ben is acting like such an asshole to their old maid. The poor woman was half blind and just trying to do her job, he shouldn't be so harsh on her because  _he_  had a fucking issue. 

"Ben." Vivien started, shaking her head.

"It's all right, madam. I'm not naive to the ways of men, their need to objectify, conquer. They see what they want to see. Women, however, see into the soul of a person." Moira stated, reassuring Vivien.

"Is this what you do? Entrap employers?" Ben asked, exasperated.

"That said, I understand the stress you two are under. Money, the baby, what happened here the other night. I don't mean to listen, but the walls here are paper thin. This unfortunate incident aside, I am happy to work for the two of you. And I certainly need the money. Times are tough. I'm perfectly willing to forget the whole thing." Moira explains herself, ensuring Vivien that she would forget and carry on with her job, causing Ben to roll his eyes, sigh, and shake his head as he looked back over to his wife.

"Well, Moira, I think maybe it might just be better for to..." Vivien starts softly, being cut off by Moira, who was now upset at the prospect of being fired. If she couldn't work in this hellhole while she was  _stuck_  there then what was she expected to do? Wander,  _aimlessly_?

"Just  _leave_? Just  _toss me out_  like a piece of  _trash_ , will you? No, you won't. Not this time. I deserve respect!" Moira yelled, taking unsteady breaths as Vivien's eyes widened at the older woman's outburst. "If your husband lays a hand on me again, or tries to fire me with unjust cause,  _I will press charges_!" Moira exclaimed, hitting her fist down on the countertop just loud enough to get her point across. The woman then stared at the wide-eyed Mrs. Harmon for a second before taking a few steps back.

"I changed the sheets in your bedroom, fresh towels in the downstairs bath, Rosaline's, and Violet's. If you don't mind, I'd like to take a longer lunch than usual. I'm quite shaken." The woman states calmly, then turns and leaves the kitchen.

Rosaline stands up straight from where she had been standing, looking between her parents with a blank expression.

"And you thought  _I_  was bipolar." She says, then takes a bite of her snack before turning and leaving the two to carry on their little conversation.

Walking outside, Rose went to the area where she, Violet, and Tate had been hanging out, hopping up to sit on the spot in middle on the red brick half-wall in between two brick pillars. She swallowed the Pop-Tart she had in her mouth and pulled the granola bar Violet had requested out of her pocket, handing it to her sister, who put it in her lap as she took a drag from the cigarette she was smoking.

"Tate, you took my spot." Rose said, looking at Tate with a teasing glint in her eye.

It made the boy smile and chuckle as he wrapped his arm around the front of her midsection, pretending to pull her off the wall altogether while saying, "If I can't have it,  _no one_   _can_!" The three of them laughing while he pulled his arm back up, his hand just barely slowing as it brushed across her stomach before returning to his lap.

Violet, of course, saw all of these little actions, and while she had her spikes of jealousy, she never said anything, instead deciding to take it in stride that at least  _someone_  in their family got to be happy. Or at least  _close_  to it.

Hearing the door behind them close, Violet's eyes widened and she quickly put out her cigarette before hiding it. Tate also hid, moving off of the wall to stand on the other side of the pillar next to where he had been sitting against it, while Rosaline continued to eat her Pop-Tart while Ben walked around the corner, seeing Violet and Rosaline and immediately knowing that Violet had been smoking.

Sighing, he looks at his oldest daughter. "Relax. I'm not here to bust you."

Violet looks at him with nervous suspicion. "Why not?"

"What you guys went through last week..." He trailed off, shaking his head.

"Seriously, Dad, we're fine." Rosaline said, earning a nod from Violet as the two of them looked at their father.

Violet chimed in, "It'll make a  _great_  college essay one day." The thought made their father give a small nod and a sympathetic smile.

"Okay. But if either of you want to talk to somebody..."

" _Dad_." Violet emphasized.

"I mean, not me. You know, I'm  _way_  too expensive." Ben joked, earning smiles from both of his daughters. "But we can find you someone."

"Okay. Thanks." Rosaline said, and Violet halfheartedly added, "I'll think about it." Earning her a pat on the knee before Ben turned and walked back inside.

Once their father was gone, Tate peeked around the corner, then leaned over the edge and placed one of his arms under Rose's knees and the other around her back before scooping her up and over and spinning her away from where they all had sat, causing the girl to yelp at first before letting out peals of laughter.

Violet smiled while watching them come back over and sit down, catching their breath as Tate hopped up on the wall and looked over at the two girls.

"He's a great dad. He really cares. You're lucky like that." He said, looking between the two.

Violet shrugged, taking out another cigarette to which Tate took out a lighter, leaning over Rosaline to light it for Violet. As he was leaned over the red haired girl, he pressed a kiss against her cheek, making her scrunch up her nose in a way that he found absolutely entrancing. Once Violet's cigarette was lit, Tate pulled away, nipping at Rose's shoulder before sitting back, a genuine smile on his features and a light in his eyes.

* * *

 

It was only couple of days later, in the late afternoon as the sun was setting, that Rosaline and Tate were hanging out for the umpteenth time on the second floor. There was a window that had been opened, and the breeze flowing through was nice, relaxing. It was only when Tate had stopped walking alongside her did she turn around and walk over to him to see what had caught his attention so suddenly.

Looking down at the sidewalk in front of the house, just outside the fence, Rose saw  Constance walking a few dogs on leashes before stopping in front of the large closed wrought iron gate. The woman was looking up into the window, hesitating before smiling and giving a wave to her son, who simply stood there, his expression hard and irritated to see her.

Seeing the unforgiving glower on her son's face, Constance's smile faltered and her head twitched to the side just a bit as she contemplated calling out to him, her gaze sorrowful as she watched Rosaline place a hand on his chest and gently pull him away from the window, the two of them turning away from the window and walking back along the corridor toward her bedroom.

After watching the two of them disappear, Constance stood there for a moment, still staring into that open window, her hand now upturned in question as she slightly shrugged. The clearing of a throat suddenly caught her attention, snapping Constance out of her daze as she looked over at the realtor, and the two of them shared an awkward moment before she scoffed and took a drag from the cigarette she had been smoking, resuming the walk she had been taking with the dogs.

"Good luck sellin' this lemon." Constance said to the realtor as she walked by, a sardonic smirk on her lips.

* * *

 

Vivien was standing in the kitchen of the house she and her children had been terrorized in, looking down at the newspaper she had resting on the island countertop when the sound of the doorbell rang out through the house. After what had happened, Vivien was hesitant to answer the door, but the want to get rid of this place was fairly overpowering at this point. And so, walking up to the front door, she moved the cover to the peephole and looked through.

"Can I help you?" She asked, seeing a young woman with curled blonde hair in an updo that seemed a bit nervous.

"Are you the woman of the house?" The blonde on the other side asked.

"Are you here to look at the house?" Vivien asked, hoping that was the case. "Did you have an appointment?"

"Yes." The woman answered back simply.

"Well, you'll have to call the realtor."

"I can come back another time." The woman reassured, a bit disappointed.

Vivien hesitated, stepping back from the door, then reached over and grabbed the heavy candle holder on the small table next to the door, hiding it behind her back before pulling the door open, revealing the young woman.

"Wait." Vivien called out to her, causing the woman to turn back to her. She glanced at the woman before taking a deep breath and stepping to the side, pulling the door open a bit more to allow the woman entrance. "My husband's upstairs, so..." Vivien trailed off, to allude that the woman shouldn't try anything.

Looking at the woman, Vivien was surprised to see the look of amazement and adoration that graced her features.

"Oh, this wood... It's so lovely and warm. One almost never sees chestnut anymore."

" _Yeah._ No, I, I never even knew what kind of wood this was." Vivien admitted, looking around at the dark wood of the interior of the house. 

"And the wainscot." The woman carried on, Vivien just humming in admiration as the woman stepped further along inside the house. "Louis Comfort Tiffany glass." The woman said, gently pressing her fingers against one of the circles within one of the stained glass windows.

"Yes."

"Inspired by the  _iridescence_  of butterfly wings, he said. And look at the blue.  _Matches my eyes, doesn't it_?" The woman asked, looking back at Vivien, who just gave her a wide-eyed smile.

"It does." She said, earning a chuckle from the woman. Whatever it took to  _sell this house._

"Your eyes are a beautiful blue too." The blonde said kindly, smiling at Vivien.

"Thank you." She replied, looking away to the ground.

"And this must be one of the chandeliers imported from his studio in New York." The strange woman said, pointing briefly up at the chandelier on the ceiling, looking up at it admirably.

"Yes. I looked it up. It's the real deal. The-The house has four of them." Vivien said, motioning for the woman to follow her. "Would you like to look at the kitchen? It's been modernized quite a bit."

As the women entered the kitchen, the constant smile that had been on the blonde's face fell, and she looked troubled as she looked around the kitchen, her grip on the handkerchief twitching. 

"I-I don't like this. It's not right. It's not what I want." Vivien didn't know someone could be  _so_  moved by a kitchen. "What's that device?" This strange woman asked, pointing to the extendable device currently sticking out over a pot on one of the eyes of the stove.

"Oh, this? This is, um... This is a pasta arm. It's... It's, you know, for filing up big pots of water. I'll tell you what. If you decide you want the house, I will have this  _removed_  before you move in." She said, folding it back against the wall.

The woman still looked troubled.

"Do you think I could have a glass of water?"

"Yeah. Or would you like some tea? I, I was making tea before. Mint and verbena." This made a smile come to the woman's face as she nodded.

And now Vivien was putting two cups of water into the microwave, closing the door before pressing a button, causing the woman to let out a small noise of disgust.

"I would have to get rid of that machine."

"Oh, I know. I'm conflicted about it too. We are just  _addicted_  to our conveniences." Viv said, shaking her head slightly at the thought.

"We?" The woman asked, giving a weird little smile, to which Vivien nodded, smiling as well. "Do you have children?" The woman asked in an excited whisper.

"Yep. I have two daughters. And actually, I'm pregnant at the moment." Admitting it to a complete stranger was a bit embarrassing, but it still brought a smile to the faces of both the women.

"Pregnant?" The blonde asked, a sad look overcoming her face before she gently shook her head and looked back up at Vivien, smiling a sad smile. "I had a child once." She said sadly, tears filling her eyes.

Vivien lost her smile as she thought about her miscarriage, wondering if this woman went through the same thing when the microwave beeped. Holding up a finger, Vivien turned around and grabbed the warmed mugs, turning around in order to speak to the woman, but she was gone. It was the strangest thing, the woman had just disappeared.

* * *

 

At nearly 6:30 that evening, while Vivien and Violet were out looking at apartments they may end up renting, and Ben was downstairs in his office doing  _whatever_ , Rosaline and Tate were sitting in the attic with Beau, Rosaline reading to the boy from picture books and children's stories while Tate sat leaned against the wall, watching with a small smile on his lips.

"Say! I like green eggs and ham! I do like them, Sam-I-Am! And I would eat them in a boat. And I would eat them with a goat..." Rosaline was cut off by the sound of the doorbell downstairs ringing, making her look up from the picture book with a small frown.

Tate stood up from where he had been sitting and looked out through the window, trying to see who it was at the door, but to no avail. Turning around, he looked at Rosaline and gave her a small smile. "You stay up here and keep him company, I'll go see who's-"

" _Mrs. Harmon!.. Mrs Harmon! It's Hayden McClaine! We need to talk!_ " A voice rang out from the first floor, making Rosaline drop the book in her hands into her lap, where it slid to the floor with a dull  _thump._

Beau, being the good boy he is, picked up the book and put it back in Rose's shaking hands, giving her a worried look when it simply fell again. 

"I'm... I'm sorry, Beau, I'll come back up here later and read to you some more, I promise." Rosaline said, pushing herself up off of the floor, standing up with the help of Tate. Soon enough they were both making their way down the stairs of the attic before closing the door above them.

Tate took Rose's hand and soothingly rubbed circles on the back of his with his thumb as they quickly made their way over to the top of the staircase.

" _Do not call me crazy, I am not crazy. I'm angry. And I'm_ **pregnant!** Mrs. Harmon?" Hayden was yelling down on the first floor, and the words made Rose stop, her jaw clenching as she swallowed harshly the lump of emotions that were beginning to form a tight constricting ball in her throat.

Moira soon appeared on her other side, staring down from the top of the staircase with the two as they listened to the conversation. "What a disgusting,  _despicable_ man." The old main muttered, rubbing her hand along the young girl's back for a moment before disappearing again. 

As the two watched the adults below them walk towards the front door, they began to quietly make their descent, watching from around the corner as the front door closed, the teenagers finally ran down the stairs, their feet hitting the bottom step just in time to hear a strange sound come from outside. Looking at each other in confusion, Rosaline opened the door while Tate disappeared from sight. 

The sight she opened the door to was not what she was expecting. A man with burn scars on the left half of his body stood, holding a shovel as he looked down at Hayden, who was now laying on the ground moving just slightly.

"Oh. She's still moving." The scarred man said, shaking his head before pulling back the shovel with his good arm and slamming it down on Hayden's head a couple of times with a grunt.

Rosaline could only stare wide-eyed as she knew what this meant. As her father attacked the man, grabbing him by the suit and shoving him to the ground, Rose knelt down beside Hayden, checking, hoping,  _praying_  that this homewrecking  **bitch**  still had a pulse for the first time in her life.

But she didn't Hayden McClaine was dead. And that meant a whole lot of  _fucking problems_  were soon to come.

Standing up, Rosaline moved over to where her father was trying to choke the life out of the murderer, and she shoved her father aside as he stood up, instead taking his place as she straddled the man on the ground, drawing her fist back and punching him several times in the face.

"You  _fucking_ _moron! Do you know what this means?! I know that you do, and if what I think is going to happen, happens, I'll fucking kill. You. Myself!_ " Rosaline shouted at the man, her face screwed up into an angry scowl as she put extra emphasis on her ending words by punching him square in the face as she said them.

Finally, her father got hold of himself and rushed over, pulling his flailing daughter off of the bleeding man. Everything else was kind of a blur as the burned man talked about Ben not being a murderer and getting rid of the body. The two of them stumbled into the house, visibly upset for different reasons, as Ben immediately stumbled into the kitchen and threw up in the sink, while Rosaline walked upstairs and into her bedroom, heading directly for the en suite bathroom with tightly clenched fists and an empty stare.

The following days were also mostly a blur. Rosaline spent most of the time like Violet usually did, locked in her room or in the attic, both places were filled with Tate holding her and promising that he wouldn't let anything happen to her or simply sitting and holding her in silence.

Meanwhile, Ben acted as if nothing were wrong, and made quick work putting up a gazebo in the backyard, over the area where Hayden's body had been buried by Larry. When he tried to talk to Rosaline about what had happened, all he got in return was a cold stare that sent chills down his spine. He was tempted to start lacing her food or drinks with her medication in order to get her back to the kind, dazed Rosaline they had grown so used to in the past three years, but if anyone noticed, he didn't even want to  _imagine_  what kind of turmoil that would bring into the family.


	4. episode four.

Leaning against the wall outside of her father's office, Rosaline peeked around the corner and was watching Tate when her father came inside from the front porch.

"Rosaline, what are you doing?" Ben asked, walking over to his daughter. Once standing in front of her, he glanced into his office and saw Tate sitting in there, waiting for him with his head held down. "Rosie, I've told you to stay away from him. And don't go into my office."

"I didn't talk to him, and I didn't go into your office. He came over saying you asked to speak with him, and I led him to the room, then stood here to wait for you and tell you he was in there." Rose explained, not looking at her father as she pushed herself upright off of the wall, walking past him to the front door.

"Rosie... Rosaline, we have to talk about it sometime!" Ben called after his daughter, sighing when she left the house and closed the door behind her.

Turning around, Ben walked into his office where Tate sat waiting, shutting the sliding door behind him before taking a seat.

"Now, Tate, I've agreed to this meeting because we need to clarify a few things. Firstly, the psychiatrist that I recommended to you, Dr. Goldman, said you never showed up for the first appointment. And you never called to cancel." Ben started off the conversation between the two of them, watching as the blonde boy shrugged before looking at him.

"I don't wanna see anyone but you." Tate explained, picking at his fingernails subconsciously.

"We've discussed  _why_  that won't work." Ben said calmly, shaking his head. "Which brings me to my next question. We're  _very_  grateful to you, Tate, for how you helped my family. But you  _need_  to explain, here and now, what you were doing in this house at the time of the break-in." 

"The truth is I was just, like, hanging around outside, and I was... I was throwing pebbles at Rose's window." Tate said, then quickly added, "But she blew me off. And-And then, uh, I noticed that the door was unlocked, so I... Went inside. It's not cool, I know." He said, shaking his head slightly.

"I understand. But  _this_  is why I can't treat you." The psychiatrist began, speaking as Tate's face morphed into one of sadness and the young man hung his head, wringing his hands together. "It's inappropriate for everyone concerned."

Sniffling, Tate allowed tears to form in his eyes, and for his voice to be laden with emotion. " _I really need your help_. I don't wanna be like this. I want to be a good person. And I know that you can help me.  _You're the one, okay?_  You're the only one that I can trust." He explained, looking up at the doctor.

"I cannot see you in this house." Ben said slowly, shaking his head just slightly as he kept eye contact with the young man.

Watching as Tate hung his head yet again, tightening the grip his hands had on each other and sniffling, Ben clenched his jaw. He felt bad for the kid, and he did  _owe_  him for helping his family. Maybe if they could meet outside of the house he would feel more comfortable talking to Tate about these things. And so, Ben looked down at his appointment schedule, looking down the list for an opening as the boy sobbed quietly across from him.

"Now, look, I have an opening. I'll  _meet you someplace_  for coffee. But you have to promise..." He said, deciding to give the boy another chance.

"I promise you. Promise." Tate said quickly. " _No more weird shit, okay_?" And Ben reluctantly sighed before agreeing.

* * *

 

 _Meanwhile_ , Rosaline had walked out onto the front porch, closing the door behind herself as her father continued speaking. Walking down the steps and onto the walkway, she looked over at the burned man who glanced at her.

"Here, let me grab your  _treats_." She said, walking over and picking up the plastic pumpkin laying in the yard, then went about picking up the several pieces of candy strewn about the yard.

Once all of the candy was picked up, Rose walked over, carrying the plastic bucket by the cheap black plastic handle, stopping in front of the burned man. Looking up into his good eye, Rosaline stared into it for a moment, her face devoid of emotion. They had a silent moment as the two of them stared at each other, Larry getting a bit nervous from the dead look in the girls eyes before something collided with the side of his face.

Rose had pulled the hand holding the pumpkin back, and then brought it forward, smashing the cheap plastic pumpkin into the  _good_  side of the man's face, certain the sound of the candy smacking against the inside of the pumpkin was loud in his ear.

"Get out of here. You're  _pathetic_." She said, dropping the bucket onto the hard walkway with a loud  _thunk_  before turning and walking back into the house, heading into the dining area where Moira was carving pumpkins.

"Moira, would you mind if I joined you?" She asked, earning a brief smile from the woman and a nod before she pulled out a chair and sat down, pulling a pumpkin close.

It was about ten minutes later, while Moira and Rose were talking softly amongst themselves about their pasts, did Vivien walk into the room, looking at all of the pumpkins on the table.

"Did Marcy bring these pumpkins?"

"Yes." Moira answered, looking over at Rosaline as they finished carving their pumpkins.

"Oh, that's nice." Vivien said, smiling as she looked at Moira's pumpkin, which was a classic scary pumpkin face. Walking over to the side of the table where Rosaline was, she looked down at the image of a cartoonish cat from one of the movie's she had shown the girl's when they were children. She smiled, impressed, and rubbed her daughter's shoulder.

"Thank you. I enjoy crafts." Moira said, placing the carving knife on the table beside her finished pumpkin. "Mrs. Harmon, a question. May I have Halloween off? I'd like to visit with my mother."

Vivien nodded slowly as she and the older woman's eyes met, a gentle smile coming to her features. "Of course."

This seemed to lift Moira's spirits, as she stood up and put the top of the pumpkin on and stepped away from it. "Done."

"I'll put that one outside." Vivien said, smiling as she lifted it up and left the room, her daughter trailing after her mother silently with her own finished pumpkin in hand.

Once outside, Vivien and Rosaline placed the pumpkins on the porch before looking at the two men standing on the walkway with their backs to the women.

"Hi." Vivien said, walking down the steps and gaining the men's attention while Rosaline leaned against the brick support pillar, a small smirk on her lips as she looked at the ghostly gay  _couple_.

"Hi. Love the house.  _So much_  potential." One of the men said, a small smile on his lips.

"Thank you. Are you Marcy's  _fluffers_?" Vivien asked, looking at the two men slightly confused.

"I'm Chad Warwick." The sassier of the two men introduced himself, stepping forward and offering a hand to the woman. "This is my ball and chain,  _Patrick_."

Vivien immediately felt an awkward unease as she smiled with wide eyes. "Welcome." She said, nodding. Putting aside anymore conversation, the group immediately headed into the house.

And then Rosaline, Vivien, Ben, Chad and Patrick were standing around the kitchen island, all carving pumpkins when the bickering started.

"This is actually kind of  _fun_. I never got to do this when I was a kid." Ben said, happily carving into a pumpkin.

"Why not?" Chad asked, looking up from the pumpkin he had been carefully carving.

" _So,_  this is what you guys do for a living. That is amazing to me. And wonderful, you know. I think  _style_  is so important." Vivien said awkwardly, cutting her own pumpkin as Rose rolled her eyes and the dead couple shared a glance before going back to their pumpkins.

"It's everything." Chad says, causing a scoff to sound from Patrick. Chad immediately stopped carving and looked up at his  _significant other,_ scoffing as well before dropping his knife on the counter.

"It's  _so great_  that I get to help you guys have  _the best_  Halloween ever." Chad started, picking up his glass of white wine before standing up. "I  _love_  Halloween. So does Patrick. Because the bars are just  _awash_  in  _twinks_  with six packs in revealing outfits."

"And diseases. Wouldn't want to bring any diseases into the household. Isn't that right, Pat?" Rosaline questioned innocently, focusing her attention on her second pumpkin carving for the day as everyone's eyes turned to her.

Clearing her throat awkwardly, Vivien began talking to put an end to the awkward silence that had fallen over the kitchen. " _So,_  in addition to Halloween night, and making everything look inviting, which I get, do you guys have any other suggestions for what we might do to the house to make it sell faster?"

"Actually, yes. The gazebo's gotta go. The lattice is wrong." Chad said, turning and walking over to a window in the kitchen to look out at the gazebo.

"I agree." Patrick said, nodding.

"Oh, no. We just put it in." Vivien said, upset with the idea they would have to tear it down as soon as it was put up.

"Did you put that gazebo in yourself, Ben?" Chad asked, turning around and leaning back against the counter, staring at Ben, who glanced over at Rosaline before hesitatingly nodding.

"Yes." He said, his voice slightly strained.

"Well, let's get through tomorrow night, and then we can  _tear it down_  and put in an organic  _cutting_   _garden_." At these words, Ben accidentally sliced his finger on the knife he had been using to carve the pumpkin.

"Ow, shit!"

"Oh, my God." Vivien said, turning around to look at her husband's finger.

"Oh, let me see." Patrick said, quickly walking over and sliding between Vivien and Ben, taking hold of the man's injured hand.

"I think I'm gonna need stitches." Ben said, his voice a bit thick as he hated the sight of blood.

"No. No, it's okay. I can fix this up." Patrick said.

"Pat's an EMT." Chad said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, I thought you were a fluffer." Vivien said, looking over Patrick's shoulder at Ben's bleeding injury.

"You're  _hilarious_ , Vivien. And I love that hair color. I can barely see any root." He said snappily, making Rose chuckle from where she hadn't moved.

"It's my natural color." Vivien said, looking back at Chad over her shoulder before giving a small shrug.

"Where's your first aid kit?" Patrick asked Ben, his gaze wandering over the married man's face.

"Upstairs." Ben answered, and off the two went.

Rosaline, now bored, stood up straight from her second pumpkin carving, sighing as she set down the carving knife. "I'll be in my room if anyone needs me." She muttered, walking away and heading upstairs. Once at the top of the stairs, Rose saw her father walking towards her, his face serious as he barely glanced at his daughter. Rosaline, however, didn't even look at her father, as she saw Patrick stop in the doorway.

Walking over to him, Rose looked up at the tall blonde man. "Save it. His dick has already gotten wet somewhere it shouldn't have before you came along. I'm barely even surprised he denied you, but I am surprised, regardless. Now, you're going to go down there, and you're going to play the part of the happy, stylish, gay fluffer,  _whether you want to or not_ , or I'm going to tell Tate to shove another fire poker up your ass. You'll get to have your fun tomorrow, not before." Rose said, then turned and headed into her bedroom.

* * *

 

Later that same night, around 11:30, Rosaline made her way downstairs into the basement, walking around the corner to see Tate standing in a room with the light on, holding the black latex suit they had found in the attic when they first moved in.

" _Oh._  What is  _this_? Did you call me down here to defile my innocence in some kinky manner?" Rose teased, smiling as she looked into the boy's eyes. There was a mischievous glint in them , but he gently shook his head.

" _No_ , I actually called you down here to help me get into this thing, I'm going to scare your sister...  _But, I mean_ , if you  _wanted_  to use this suit for some other things, then I'm willing to be a participant." Tate said, a teasing smile in his eyes as they walked towards each other, stopping once their bodies were flush with each other, their heads tilted toward one another.

" _I'm sure you'll surprise me one day._ " Rose whispered, both of them knowing that now wasn't the right time for them to be doing anything that they both wanted to enjoy, such as having sex. For now, they both smiled and nodded, then leaned in and pressed their lips gently against one another's, savoring the sensation that came along with the action.

After their kiss, both of them took a step back and chuckled before they decided to get him into the Rubber Man suit. Being careful about his hair, Rose zipped the back of the mask closed, taking a step back to look at him in the full outfit. It was actually the first time she had seen him in it, although she was aware that he had used it before, and what exactly he had done in it. To say that him raping her mother and impregnating her didn't bother her would be a lie, but she knew what it was for, and she had come to love Nora Montgomery, whom she had only met a twice before, and only briefly then, like a mother herself.

"Tate?" The sound of Violet's voice rang out in the basement as the girl made her way down the stairs, causing both of them to turn and look toward the source.

Upon turning back around, Tate was gone, and Rosaline was left in the room, where she grabbed the ouija board Tate had shown her a few days earlier, and waited patiently for her sister's screams to be heard.

"Tate? You said you wanted to meet at midnight... Come out, come out, wherever you are." Violet said jokingly, reaching the bottom of the steps and looking around for the boy.

Turning around, Violet was shocked by the sight of a man in the black latex kink suit her father had supposedly thrown away and gasped before he grabbed her, putting his hand over her mouth while pushing her backwards and into the railing of the staircase. Her screams were muffled, and she only stopped when the man attacking her backed off and started laughing. A laugh that Violet recognized.

"You  _asshole_!" Violet said, panting to catch her breath after almost  _dying_  of a heart attack while Tate continued laughing as he unzipped the mask and pulled it off.

"I scared you." He said happily.

"No you didn't." Violet denied, then looked at the suit up close for the first time. "Where did you  _get_  this thing? My dad threw it out."

"Finders keepers." He said, chuckling and backing away from the girl, turning around to see Rosaline smiling in the doorway to the other side of the basement, ouija board in one hand.

Walking over to Rose, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close, then looked over at Violet, who was watching the two of them with a jealous glint in her eyes. "Really? I didn't scare you?" He asked, the two of them walking over to Violet.

"I said no." She replied, looking into Tate's eyes.

"I bet  _I_ can." Rose said, a smile tugging at her lips as she presented the ouija board to her sister, who looked at it with a furrowed brow.

Setting up a little space to play the ouija board while Tate went to the other side of the basement to get out of the latex suit, Rose lit a few red candles she had found, looking over her shoulder to Violet, who was sitting on the stairs, with a smile on her face.

Tate soon walked out and made his way over to the ouija setup, sitting down next to the red headed girl and bumping his shoulder against hers. "You have to put your fingers on the other side." He explained, looking back at Violet while he and Rose went back and forth with bumping their shoulders against one another's. 

"I don't believe in that shit." Violet said, watching the happy couple in the creepy basement.

" _Charles_  is gonna answer all your questions." Tate said in a sing-song voice. "He used to live here."

"Is  _Charles_  gonna tell me what happened to those  _assholes_  that tried to kill us?" Violet asked, standing up and walking over to sit on the other side of the ouija board. "What'd you do to them?"

"I told you,  _I_  didn't do anything. I had some help." Tate said calmly, then placed his fingers on one curve of the planchette piece on the board, nodding for Violet to do the same as Rose placed her fingers on the other, and Violet finally placed her fingers on the point of the heart-shaped piece.

"What's in this basement? I want the  _truth._ " Violet persisted, looking between Tate and Rosaline before focusing on Tate.

"What I'm about to tell you might scare you.  _To death_." Tate finished jokingly, smiling as Rose knocked her shoulder against his and they all removed their fingers from the planchette.

"I can take it." Violet said, smiling as well.

"Dr. Charles Montgomery built this house. And here, in this basement, is where he worked." Tate started, pointing to a doorway behind Violet, on the wall to their left, Violet's right. "Charles was a doctor to the stars. But he was also a drug addict. And his wife, Nora, wasn't gonna let that get in the way of her lifestyle. So she set up a  _little secret side business_. He would take care of girls who didn't want to be in trouble anymore. This went on and on until, one day, one girl couldn't keep the secret to herself, and she told her boyfriend what happened. The boyfriend wanted  _revenge_ , so he  _kidnapped_  Charles and Nora's baby."

As Tate got to the part about the baby being taken, he snaked an arm around Rose's waist and rubbed her side gently before continuing on. 

"Terrified, the Doctor and his wife waited for the ransom demands. Their child was brought back to them by the police, but not how a baby should be returned to its parents. It was brought to them in an evidence box, the body parts all severed and stored in glass jars of formaldehyde. Driven insane by grief, the Doctor used all his experience and surgical skill to try and cheat death. But what he created was ungodly and monstrous. And even after their tragic end, that thing remained. Down here. To this day." Tate finished retelling the tale of what had happened so long ago, looking at Violet with sincerity in his eyes.

"Oh, my God... You are so full of shit. I don't believe a word that has come out of your mouth." Violet said, scoffing. "Forget it. Forget I ever asked." Standing up, Violet shook her head and headed back upstairs, leaving the two of them down there alone.

Tate and Rose stand up as well, sighing quietly as Tate pulls Rose to his body, pressing her back against his front before resting his chin on Rose's shoulder, which required him bending down a little, as she was a bit shorter than him.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, Tate allowed one of his hands to travel to her stomach and stay there, lightly caressing the area as he hid his face in her neck.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Rosaline asked quietly, turning her head slightly towards Tate.

"Doing what?" He muttered into her neck, playing dumb, which made her gently grab the hand caressing her, stopping his motions.

"Rubbing my stomach. You do realize that  _I'm_  not the one you knocked up, right?" She asked teasingly, earning a little nip at her neck from Tate, who really didn't want to answer her question. "Come on, tell me." Rose insisted softly, turning in his grasp so that her body was facing him.

"I can't... I can't help but think about what it would be like, you know? If it was you instead." Tate said quietly, not meeting Rose's eyes as he licked his suddenly dry lips.

This made Rosaline frown slightly. "Tate, why don't we... Go out somewhere, tonight? You can leave the house on Halloween, right? So let's go somewhere, and then we can talk about this while we're out. Okay?" She asked quietly, placing two fingers under Tate's chin and gently lifting so that their eyes would meet. He was nervous and embarrassed, but he nodded in agreement, then pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.

The sound of heavy footsteps creaking on the floor above them made them stop and look up.

"Your dad is supposed to see me today, so I should probably get out of here." He said, earning a small smile from Rose, who nodded, pecking his lips before running up the stairs to the first floor and closing the door gently behind her.

Tate thought about what it would be like to have a child with her. The thought seemed so... Strange. Foreign, almost. Rosaline had never really thought about having children. But... maybe a little one running around wouldn't be so bad... Although, she was only sixteen, and  _technically_  Tate was a thirty-four year old man, but he certainly didn't look it.

Regardless of her thoughts, they would be talking about this later tonight.

Almost running into her father as she walked past the front door, Rosaline looked up at the man, her happy gaze immediately disintegrating into a bored stare.

"I'm going to explore the neighborhood this evening, if that's alright with you. Maybe go steal some candy from  _babies_." She said, making the man's eye twitch before he nodded in agreement and left the house to go meet up with Tate in the park.

Yeah, Rosaline was going to be holding that over her father's head for a  _while..._  Hayden and her baby. The baby. Just the thought made Rose subconsciously rub her stomach.


	5. episode five.

The evening of Halloween, while the  _fluffers_  were decorating the house, and Vivien and Ben were doing whatever Vivien and Ben do, Rosaline left the house. Ben knew, and if Vivien asked, she knew her father would hesitantly tell his wife that she had said earlier she would be exploring the neighborhood. The two would probably have a small argument, but while Rose was out of the house and on a  _real_  date with Tate, it was none of her concern.

As they walked down the street, hand in hand, fingers intertwined, Rosaline and Tate felt at peace. There were children already dressed and ready for  _trick-or-treating_  with their parents, some dressed as fairies, some ghosts, or vampires. Watching the kids as they strolled along the sidewalk, Tate and Rosaline glanced at one another, sharing a knowing look.

Turning their attention back ahead of them, Rose and Tate continued walking around aimlessly for a while until they came to a beach. It was darker out now, as when they had left the sun had just been in the first stages of setting, and that had been roughly an hour ago. Sitting on the sand of the beach, Rosaline was laughing as Tate jokingly  _serenaded_  her while leaning over the railing of the lifeguard stand.

"Oh Tate, what would I ever do without your  _wonderful_  singing?" Rose joked, her attention being drawn away from the boy as her phone rang. "Hello?"

 _"Rosaline, where are you?!"_ Vivien's voice rang out from the other end, making Rose sigh slightly.

"I told dad that I would be hanging out around the neighborhood tonight." She replied to her practically hysterical mother, glancing over her shoulder as Tate winked at her and then turned to come down to her level.

 _"Has anyone bothered you? Any... Strange people, like one of your father's patients, or anything?"_  Vivien asked, and Rose had to keep herself from laughing.  _If only she knew_.

"No, no one has come up to me, why?" It was then that Tate ran up behind her and plopped down, wrapping his arms around her torso while pulling her back against him, burying his face in the side of her neck making her stifle a giggle with her hand.

 _"It's... It's nothing. There was just a scare back at the house while Violet was home alone, but it's fine now..."_  Her mother trailed off, making Rose sigh as she moved her hand from her mouth to Tate's hair, tugging on it gently to get him to pull away from her neck.

"It this the part where you make me come home?" Rose asked, looking over at Tate with a small smile.

_"Are you having fun? Staying safe?"_

"Yes to both."

 _"Alright. I want you home in an hour."_  Vivien said, then hung up the phone.

Sighing, Rose put the phone in her pocket, leaning forward to peck Tate's lips repeatedly, their chaste kisses slowly becoming more pressing and feverish. "We. Need. To. Talk. About. That. Thing." Rosaline said in between their kisses, making pull back and press their foreheads together, sighing.

"Do we have to?" Tate asked, sitting up.

"We should, but that doesn't mean we have to." Rosaline said gently.

"No, we can. We can talk about it, I guess. I just... I don't  _know_  what to say about it." Tate began, his mouth hanging open for a moment as he struggled to find the words to say.

"Well, the whole reason you did it was for Nora, right? To make her happy because of what happened to Thaddeus?" Rose questioned quietly, tilting her head slightly to the side.

Tate gave a brief nod, his eyes cast down to the sand of the beach. "Yeah. She saved me, when I was a kid, so I felt like... Like I needed to  _repay_  her. And she just wanted a baby  _so badly,_ and then those fags started fighting and backed out of getting a baby, and she was so  _upset_  and I killed them. Then... Then you guys moved in. And Nora still wanted a baby. So I did it. It was before me and you really talked and I  _know_  that it was wrong..."

Rosaline cut Tate off by pressing a finger to his lips. "Shh, I understand. I'm not upset, Tate."

"You... You're not?" Tate asked as he reached up and gently took hold of her hand, surprised.

"No, I'm not. Do you know why?" Rose asked him quietly, a small smile coming to her lips as Tate gently shook his head. "Because, that means that  _we_ could have a baby. If you wanted to." The words were whispered, and neither of them dared to remove their eyes from the other, afraid that this moment might disappear on the wind.

Eyes widening, a smile broke out on Tate's face, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. "You would want that? With  _me_?" He asked almost inaudibly, earning a smile and a nod from Rosaline.

"Yeah, I would  _definitely_ want that with you." She said sincerely.

In the next few seconds, the two of them went from Rose sitting between Tate's legs, head turned to face him, to laying on her back in the sand, Tate hovering above her on his elbows as he peppered her face in kisses. Giggling quietly, she lifted her hands up and threaded her fingers through the boy's hair, their lips meeting several times before they began to get a bit more physical.

Tate's hand was sliding up her shirt, warm fingertips gliding over smooth skin as their tongues battled for dominance in their mouths. As soft moans were making their way out of both their throats and hands were roaming farther underneath their clothes, the sound of several people moving on the hill back above them made them pull apart.

Glancing over his shoulder, Tate saw a small group of the fifteen he had killed at Westfield High seventeen years ago making their way towards them. Gritting his teeth as he looked down at Rose beneath him, Tate knew he had to think of something quickly.

" _Shit. Those are some of the people I shot at Westfield... We need to get out of here, play dumb._ " Tate whispered quickly, receiving a brief nod in response before he glanced back at the dead teenagers that were getting closer. 

Once the dead teens surrounded the two of them, who had moved from laying on the sand to sitting up, not necessarily having to act as they adjusted their clothes, Rosaline looked up at them and scoffed. "Nice  _costumes_. What are you, the dead  _Breakfast Club_?"

Tate looked around at the teens with an innocent expression. "You know, there's a whole lot of beach, guys."

"Good job, Tate. You  _finally_  came out of hiding. We've been waitin' for years for you to show your face. But you like Mommy's little safe house, don't you?" The jock with an entry wound in the center of his forehead said, staring down at Tate, while a cheerleader with what looked like a buckshot wound to her chest moved around to kneel next to Rose.

"I don't know you." Tate said, looking around at the teenagers with a confused expression.

"You know, I'm actually surprised you have the  _balls_  to show your face around here." The teenager said, not sparing a glance at Rosaline.

"Yeah. Maybe you should have worn a mask." The goth girl with the gory head wound said, bending over to get in Tate's face as she spoke.

"I'm not really  _into_  Halloween." Tate said, a small smile on his lips as he played as though he thought the teens were joking around.

"But this year's different, right?" The goth girl asked, a teasing smile spreading across her lips. " _You have a date._  How  _cute_  is that?" She asked rhetorically, looking at Rose behind him.

Putting a hand on the goth's shoulder, Tate brought the teen's attention back to him. "Leave her alone." It was then that he and the goth girl stood up at the same time.

"We don't want  _her._ We want  _you._ " The jock said, staring at Tate.

"How bout we  _drown him_?" The goth girl suggested.

"No, we should shoot him  _right between the eyes_." The jock said, pointing up at the would on his forehead.

Rosaline decided it was time for her to step in and stood up, standing directly in front of the jock.

" _Ha-ha._  Halloween pranks." She said mirthlessly.

"Would somebody  _please_  waste this bitch?" The goth immediately said, making Rose turn her attention to her, already annoyed with her presence.

" _Yeah_." The punk rock boy  with a wound on his jaw and face agreed. "Why does  _he_  get a girlfriend?  _I_  don't have a girlfriend. Do  _you_  have a girlfriend?" Mr. Punk Rock asked, looking at a nerdy guy that had a terrible wound to the bottom half of his face. "Kyle, you?" He continued to ask, pointing briefly to the jock.

"Nope. I haven't had sex in a  _long_  time." Kyle answered, tilting his head and looking at Tate as he answered.

In response, Rosaline played the role of the scared little girlfriend and allowed Tate to wrap his arm around her shoulder and lead her away from the group.

"Come on. Let's go." Tate said, pausing only to bend down and pick up the blanket they had been laying on only a few minutes before. "This beach  _sucks_. Someone should pick up the trash." Tate said, quickly wrapping the blanket up into a ball before tucking it under his arm and walking over to Rose, grabbing her hand and pulling her along with him, the two of them quickly leaving to head back to the house.

* * *

 

Once back at home, Rosaline walked up the walkway that was now littered with smashed pumpkins, then looked up at Chad, who was destroying things on the porch while yelling.

" _HEY!_ " Rose yelled, gaining his attention.

Looking at her, Chad scoffed and brushed his hair out of his face. "What could  _you_  possibly want?" He asked, walking down the steps towards her.

"I want you to  _fuck off_. Go find your  _pathetic excuse_  of a boyfriend, have all the unprotected sex with all the random men you can find, redecorate the living room,  _I don't give a shit_ , just  _go away_." Rosaline ordered him, glaring up into the dark eyes of the man with her own dark gaze, who clenched his jaw in irritation before disappearing from her sight.

Taking a deep breath, Rose closed her eyes momentarily before exhaling, forcing herself to relax as she walked up the stairs and went into the house, running up the staircase and into her bedroom, ignoring all of the shit going on with her parents. She could feel the high energy of the house pouring over her in constant waves even after she closed her bedroom door. Turning, she looked at Tate, who was already sitting on the edge of her bed. 

"What are we going to do about those assholes from the beach? If they followed us to the house, I'm going to stop playing the submissive little girlfriend." She said, walking over to him.

Gently placing her hands on his shoulders, she pushed him backwards until her way laying on his back with his feet still planted on the ground. Climbing onto his lap, Rose stood up on her knees, straddling Tate, who was watching her with bright eyes as he ran his hands up her thighs, stopping once they reached her hips. Tightening his grip on her hips, Tate gently pulled her forward before allowing her to go back to her original position. They continued this slow rocking motion with small teasing smiles on their faces.

"Well, I don't really want to keep thinking about them when we have something  _much_  more interesting going on right now." Tate murmured, running his hands further up her sides, underneath her shirt, stopping when his fingers brushed against the fabric of her bra. The simple sensation of his fingers dancing along her ribs made a shiver of pleasure run down her spine.

This moment, of course, had to be cut short as the noise of dogs barking outside caught their attention. The new energy entering premises of the house made Rose stop, looking over her shoulder at the window of her room that face the front yard. Slipping off of Tate's lap, much to both their disappointment, she walked over to the window and pulled the blinds up, looking outside. Seeing the five teenagers walking onto the lawn, Rose clenched her jaw.  _Of course ghosts with unfinished business would follow them there. Tate was, after all, their unfinished business._

Walking to her bedroom door, Tate grabbed hold of her upper arm before she could leave the room.

"Just  _leave it_. They won't come into the house." Tate said, gently tugging at her arm.

Rose, however, had different ideas.

"If they won't come in, then I'll go out." She said coldly, pulling her arm out of his grip before making her way out to meet Tate's victims.

"Oh,  _great_. He sends his little girlfriend out." Kyle says, rolling his eyes.

" _Unarmed too,_ she really must be feeling confident."

"Alright, fuckers, I'm done playing nice with you. You're on my property now, and if you  _dicks_  don't leave, I'll deal with you myself." She said menacingly, looking at all of them.

"Go ahead,  _sweetie_ , what are you gonna do,  _call the cops on us_?" The goth girl asked teasingly.

"Call them, you'll  _probably need them_." The cheerleader said, smirking.

"Screw that. She deserves whatever happens to her." Kyle said, staring at the annoyed girl.

" _Yeah._  She's like those lonely fat chicks that marry guys on death row." Goth bitch said snidely. " _You're deeply, deeply disturbed._ "

It was then that the door behind Rose opened, revealing her sister wielding a pair of scissors, playing the role of the protective big sister.

"You're all pathetic, you know that, don't you? Why don't you just go  _home_?" Violet asked, looking around at the group of ghosts.

It was the cheerleader who stepped forward and got in Violet's face.

" _Home?_  Where is that? I'm an only child. After what happened, my parents split up, sold the house, moved away. No forwarding address. So I don't  _have_  a  _home_."

"Parents suck, but we can't  _fix it_  for you." Violet said, watching as the girl sat down on the stairs.

"Can you fix  _this_?" Kyle asked rhetorically, pointing up at the wound in the center of his forehead. "Can you give me back my scholarship to Georgia Tech? I'm supposed to be starting quarterback freshman year."

"They don't  _care_. They're in  _love_ , and they'll do  _anything_  for him." The cheerleader says, looking between the sisters with a sarcastic smirk on her face before settling her gaze on Rose. " _Including_  giving him your virginity, isn't that right?  _Tonight was the night, wasn't it?_ "

The look that passed over Violet's face upon hearing this was one of shock and envy. She  _wanted_  her sister to be happy, but she also wanted  _Tate_. It was clear, however, that Tate had chosen.

"Got a problem with that?" Rose asked the cheerleader dismissively, turning her head sharply when Kyle called her a stupid slut. A look of curiosity then passed over her features. " _Well_ , I can see now that you didn't get that scholarship based on your  _academics_."

"You're worse than  _he is_. You think it's  _okay_  what he did to us." Kyle continued, walking up to her with a glare on his face.

" _What did he do to you_?" Violet asked loudly, looking at all of the teenagers who had now stood up and began to surround the girls.

"She doesn't know." The cheerleader says, looking at Violet with mild surprise.

"No, but  _she_  does." Goth Girl says, looking Rosaline up and down with disgust.

"About  _what?_ " Violet asked, glancing over at her sister.

It was then that the boy who had been silent the entire night stepped forward and spoke up. The only problem being that his words were an unintelligible mess, followed by a flow of blood escaping his destroyed mouth. He grabbed hold of his jaw and let out a sigh, walking over to stand behind Kyle and the cheerleader, who put her hand on his arm and told him it was okay.

"How have you not heard about Westfield High?" Kyle asked Violet, looking at her with confusion creasing between his eyebrows.

"We just moved here." Violet said softly.

"Pick up a yearbook, bitch." The goth girl said.

"Or  _read_  a  _newspaper_." Cheerleader followed.

" _We're kind of famous._ " Kyle finished.

Violet, not understanding what was going on, mistook their meaning and scoffed, making Rosie roll her eyes.

"So you're popular, and you're pissed off I don't know who you are."

"Ugh. Let's just put the bitch he cares about down,  _in front of her sister._ " Goth Girl says, turning her attention to Rosaline, who stared back at her unfazed.

" _Leave her alone!_ " Tate suddenly yelled from the doorway.

" _Finally!_ " Kyle exclaims. "The prodigal son returns."

Violet immediately ran up the steps and stood by Tate's side while Rose hesitated for a moment, looking into her boyfriend's eyes before walking up to stand on the other side of her sister. 

"Come on down, man. We've got some  _questions._ " Mr. Punk Rock says, all five of the gory teens staring up at Tate.

"Go inside, both of you. I can handle this." Tate said, glancing over at Rose over Violet's head. 

" _I seriously doubt that._ " Cheerleader states angrily.

"Go inside!" Tate orders the two of them.

" _No._  They want to hurt you." Violet says to him, looking at him like he had lost his mind.

"Karma's a  _bitch_ , Tate." Goth Girl said threateningly.

"You wanna talk to me?" Tate asked the group. " _Let's see how fast you can run._ " He said, then sprinted off through the yard and into the street, the group of dead teens hot on his trail.

Once he was out of sight, Violet pulled out her phone and called the police. Rosaline gritted her teeth upon hearing her sister call Tate her boyfriend and turned, walking into the house and slamming the door behind herself.

Things were coming to a climax within the house and Rosaline could feel it. The walls were vibrating around her as she leaned her hands on a countertop in the kitchen, breathing heavily. Her muscles felt like they were contracting all over her body and she was tightening up, hearing the voices of her parents and Hayden yelling upstairs. The bitch had finally shown up.

Letting out an angry yell in frustration, Rose grabbed a meat cleaver and slammed it down repeatedly into a pumpkin that was nearby, letting out a shaky breath once she was finished. Closing her eyes afterwards, Rose felt a sense of calm come over her body, and she released a relaxing sigh, sinking to the ground in the kitchen, where she sat until the sun rose and the ghosts returned to the house.

* * *

 

It was Moira who found her first, when she walked into the kitchen to begin making breakfast and cleaning.  Seeing the young girl sitting on the kitchen floor, the older woman's heart broke a little more than it already had that night. Moira knew Rosaline was affected by the house more so than others, and she felt pity for the girl. Walking over, she knelt down and pulled the girl up, stopping when she saw Tate standing in the doorway of the kitchen with a worried expression, casting a glance at the destroyed pumpkin on the counter.

Stepping forward, Tate bent and picked Rose up with ease, carrying her up the stairs and into her bedroom without too much worry of being seen by her parents, who were both too preoccupied with their own problems to really take notice of their daughters. Laying the girl in her bed, Tate laid down next to her and held her close, burying his face in the back of her neck.

"Things are about to change, aren't they?" She muttered quietly, staring off into space.

"Yeah." Tate answered, his voice just above a whisper in her ear as he slid one of his hands up her inner thigh. To them, this was a good opportunity to pick up where they had left off. Everything crazy had happened last night, and while there was a momentary lull in the action of the house, they were going to take advantage of it. Even if that meant muffling every noise Rosaline made with his hand pressed over her mouth.


	6. episode six.

The morning Violet found out about what Tate had done, Rosaline and Tate had been  _fucking_  in her en suite bathroom. It wasn't until they heard Violet running down the hallway and the staircase, yelling for their mom, did they pull away from each other, panting and soaked in water from the shower overhead.

" _She knows._ " Tate breathed out.

"She had to find out sooner or later." Rose whispered, rinsing off her body under the water before turning the shower off and stepping out into the bathroom.

Picking up one of the fresh towels Moira never failed to provide, Rosaline and Tate dried themselves off, occasionally bumping their hips against one another and smiling as they dressed. Once done getting ready for the day, Rose went to leave the room, only to have Tate wrap his arms around her midriff and pull her back to him.

"Tate." She started to say, cut off by Tate pressing a few kisses along her neck before reluctantly letting her go, pulling the bedroom door open for her with a small smile.

" _My lady_." He teased, bowing slightly as she passed by him, turning in the doorway to give him a small curtsy. 

" _Why, thank you, kind sir._ " She returned, then chuckled and walked down the staircase, stopping short of the kitchen, where Violet and Constance were now confronting each other.

"You found out about Tate, didn't you? I knew you would." Constance said, looking down at the countertop.

"Get out of my house.  _This is not happening_." Violet said, stepping into the kitchen to face the older woman.

"I questioned my sanity when I first found out. But this house... This house will make you a believer. You see, Violet, we were living  _here_  when Tate lost his way. And I believe that the  _house_  drove him to it." Constance explained, looking into the girl's eyes.

"What? No. That can't be real." Violet said, shaking her head.

"You're a  _smart_  girl. How can you be so arrogant to think that there is only one reality that you're able to see? I want you to meet someone. And you listen to me, you  _do not_  tell that sister of yours about this. You understand me?" Constance ordered Violet, standing up from the stool she had been sitting on, leading herself and Violet out and back to her house.

Upon hearing this, Rosaline's hands tightened into fists at her sides. 

 _What did they think they were doing? Keeping secrets, getting closer, making her feel like something was wrong with her. There was nothing wrong with her._  Rosaline clutched her hands into her hair and squeezed her eyes shut, then took a deep breath. She would not let these people get the best of her. Opening her eyes, Rose brushed her fingers through her damp hair, fixing the disheveled appearance she had created before walking over to the refrigerator to make something for breakfast.

* * *

 

It wasn't fifteen minutes later when Violet came bursting through the backdoor, looking over at her sister, who was cooking a single pancake in a pan.

" _You knew?!_  This entire time, you've known, and yet you're  _still_  with him!? You... You even slept with him, didn't you!?" Violet yelled, walking over to Rosaline with tears in her eyes and an overall panicked expression on her face. 

"Yes." Was the simple answer Rosie gave, not taking her eyes off of the pancake.

"How... How could you? He  _killed_  those teenagers!  _He killed fifteen people!_ " Violet yelled, as if her sister didn't  _quite_  understand the severity of what her boyfriend had done.

"I know, but he's dead now, so what do you expect me to do?" Rosaline asked plainly as she turned off the stove, sliding the pancake out of the pan and onto the plate she had on the counter. Turning around with the plate in hand, Rose didn't spare her sister a glance as she set the plate on the island and sat on a stool.

"W-What?" Violet stammered, confused by the question as she watched her sister pour syrup on the pancake as if this was a  _normal_  conversation to be having. "Ignore him! Tell him to leave you alone!"

"I can't do that, Violet, and I think you know why." Rose said calmly before she began to eat her pancake.

At this, Violet gave her sister an incredulous look before turning and running from the kitchen and up into her bathroom. Once in the bathroom, Violet pulls out a razor blade she hadn't used in a while and sliced a fresh new cut into her scarred wrist. Looking up at herself in the mirror, she imagined what it would be like to just slit her own throat with the razor before snapping out of it.

" _Are you scared now?_ " She heard Tate ask, seeing him standing in the doorway behind her in the mirror. Without even thinking of what she should do or say, Violet spun around to face him, but he wasn't there.

* * *

 

The next few weeks were uneventful. Most of them Rosaline and Tate spent together, whether it was spent having sex or not. A lot of their time was actually up in the attic, where the two of them would spend time with Beau, reading to him, rolling his red ball back and forth, or just sitting in the room with him in silence, perhaps with some music playing quietly.

It was when Rose, Vivien and Moira were sitting in the kitchen one day that Constance came by holding a covered plate. Looking up at the older woman as she ate a bowl of macaroni and cheese, Rose watched the exchange of glances she and Moira shared.

"Hi, Constance. I'm so sorry about Adelaide. I've been meaning to make a condolence call, and I've just been..." Vivien started, cut off by Constance waving her hand weakly.

"Moira tells me that you've been suffering terribly. That every time you leave the house, you're racked with violent morning sickness?" Constance asks, earning a nod from Vivien. "Well, you know, my mother always recommended a big platter of  _offal_  during the first trimester of pregnancy. She preferred pork." Constance said, setting the plate down and uncovering the internal organs.

"Oh, well, how nice of you to think of me during this..."

"I believe life is for the living, don't you?" Constance asked, earning a chuckle from Rosaline before she went on to explain the different organs and how they were good for the baby. "Speaking of which, how is your other baby? She was such a dear, sweet child and such a comfort to me when Addy passed."

"Well, she's been very upset. Spending a lot of time in her room." Vivien said, looking at Constance sympathetically.

"Sometimes children going through transition just need alone time." Constance said, a memory of Tate flashing through her mind.

"Because forcing too much  _family time_  down someone's throat can lead to a mental break, can't it  _Constance_?" Rose asked innocently before eating another forkful of macaroni, looking at the woman with a small smile.

It was then that Vivien stepped forward and thanked Constance for the  _awful_ , speaking what she was thinking instead of what the internals were called. Constance then turned to Moira and asked her to make sweetbreads for Vivien the way she used to for Constance, and when Moira agreed, she took hold of Rose's hand and squeezed it, gently pulling the girl from her stool.

"I just want to have a little chat with the young one, I know she and Addy were close." Constance said to Vivien before pulling her out through the backdoor, where they stopped just outside of the house.

" _What have you done_?" Constance asked lowly once the door was closed, looking down into Rose's eyes.

"You'll have to clarify, I'm afraid I don't speak  _crazy old woman_." Rosaline said plainly, pulling her hand out of her neighbor's grasp.

"Did you  _sleep with him_?" Constance clarified, glancing down at the girl's stomach.

"Is your  _truffle pig_  nose picking up  _pheromones_  again?" Rose asked, her brow furrowing slightly. It had only been about three weeks since the first time she and Tate had had sex, so, unless she had conceived that first night, which was likely considering he only raped her mother once and she was knocked up, so perhaps it was the house ensuring that she became pregnant.

At this, Constance wasn't even sure if she had the energy to be upset. After everything that had happened recently, she just heaved a breath and looked down at the young girl's flat stomach.

"May... May I?" The older woman asked, motioning to her stomach, a bit surprised when she actually received a nod of approval from Rose.

"Go ahead... Honestly, I'm glad you've mentioned it. I didn't think it would be so soon, but I suppose this house is ensuring that this happens." Rosaline said quietly, receiving a small nod from Constance, who reached out and pressed the palm of one hand against her stomach, a sad smile stretching over her features.

"A grandbaby." Constance says, tears filling her eyes as she imagines the little darling.

Their quiet moment, however, was cut short when Vivien swung the back door open, her face rife confusion.

"What the  _hell_  are you doing?!" Vivien shouted at Constance. Thinking quickly, Rosaline's eyes filled with tears and she sniffled, not looking at her mother.

"I'm sorry, mom." She said quietly, her voice full of emotion.

"Rosaline... Rose, oh, sweetie, please tell me you aren't..." Vivien couldn't even finish her sentence as her daughter turned to look at her, blue eyes watery and filled with sadness, her red hair reminding Vivien of herself.

" _I'm so sorry, mommy_." Rose cried, allowing herself to be pulled into her mother's arms, away from Constance, who was watching with a curious eye.

"Oh, sweetie, do you... Was it... I mean, you weren't... _raped_ , were you? You know that you can tell me anything, if anything happened." Vivien said, holding her youngest daughter to her chest, gently stroking her hair and rubbing up and down her back. She felt the largest wave of relief wash over her as her daughter shook her head.

"No, but  _please_  don't be angry." Rose begged her mother, her hands coming up to grip onto the back of the woman's shirt, who just nodded and whispered, "Of course, baby."

"It was me a-and Tate... On Halloween... When I said I was hanging out around the neighborhood, I was with Tate." Rose explained, pulling back to look up into her mother's eyes, her own bloodshot and puffy as she sniffled.

" _Tate_?  _Constance's son_ , Tate? Your  _father's patient, Tate?_ " Vivien asks, eyebrows coming together in confusion. She didn't realize that the two of them were  _that_  close. Looking over at Constance, who she couldn't imagine having any form of a relationship beyond her being a nosy neighbor, she realized that the woman seemed just as surprised as she did.

Little did Vivien know that it was because Constance had just made a rather troubling discovery about the young girl. One that meant Rose and her son were  _far too similar_.

"Mommy,  _please_ , you can't tell dad. He'll  _kill_ Tate." The irony of these words was not lost on either Rose or Constance.

"Okay... Okay, sweetie. We'll figure something out, come on. Constance, I am so sorry about this. We'll have to talk about all of this later. Sit the two of them down and have a real discussion." Vivien said, making Constance look up at the woman.

"What is there to discuss, they'll have the child, and if they come to decide they can't take care of the little angel, then, I... I'll take it in." Constance said, looking Rosaline, whose gaze hardened as she looked at the old woman, over.

"Oh. Well, I mean, I really think that.. We should all sit down and discuss this one day  _soon_." Vivien stressed, then sighed, turning her daughter around and ushering her inside.

* * *

 

That same night, Rosaline was laying in bed with Tate's arm wrapped around her when she told him what she had found out.

"I think I'm pregnant." She whispered, feeling Tate's body immediately raise up on one his elbows behind her.

"Are you serious?" He asked quietly, looking down at the redheaded girl beside him.

Rolling onto her back, Rose looked into his eyes and nodded. "Yeah. Your mother was here earlier, and she knew when my mom was pregnant. She pulled me outside and  asked if we had slept together. My mom also found out, but I told her not to tell Ben." She explained, watching Tate as he watched her, a smile forming on his lips.

"How did you convince her not to tell him?" He asked, leaning down so that his upper body was hovering over hers.

"I started crying and begging. I think I even surprised Constance with how quickly I went from one to the other." She said, smiling as well.

For the rest of the night they laid in the bed, cuddling and kissing, Tate's hand rubbing over her stomach as she fell asleep.

* * *

 

Days later, Violet and Rosaline both had left the house doing their own things. Rose had gone out with their mother to buy some pregnancy tests and a schedule a doctor's appointment for next week. Vivien was constantly reassuring her that everything would be okay, and that even if Tate didn't want to have anything to do with the child, since they would be moving as soon as they sold the house, that they would figure something out.

Thoughts such as this made Rose clench her jaw. She couldn't tell her mother that if they wanted Tate involved in the child's life then they had to stay in the house, unless they wanted to exclude the only possibility of Tate seeing his child to  _maybe_  Halloween. Shaking these thoughts from her head, Rose continued walking through the store with her mother, discussing things like diaper brands and Vivien telling stories about how Violet used to always play the role of older sister like a hero, holding her hand all the time and telling her there were no monsters under the bed, making sure she was always careful around things like the coffee table and sharing toys even though she was only a year older. It made Rose smile.

That is, until she felt the connection to the house that was always humming in the back of her head begin pounding against the inside walls of her skull. Dropping the bag of items they had just bought, Rosaline gripped her head in her hands and gritted her teeth.  _Something was wrong_.

"Rose? Rosaline, what's wrong, baby?" Vivien asked quickly, walking around to stand in front of her daughter, placing her hands on her daughter's wrists. "Baby, come on. Come on, let go. You have to talk to me."

"My head just hurts really bad, can we go home? Now?" Rose asked quickly, bending over and picking up the bag she had dropped. She had to get home quickly. Something was happening, or about to happen. Something  _bad_.

"Of course. Are you sure that's all it is? You aren't have any stomach pains or anything are you?" Vivien questioned, glancing down at her daughter's crotch for any signs of blood.

Shaking her head, Rose reassured her mother that it was just her head, and that she felt like she needed to go home and lay down. And so, the two women went back home, having at least enjoyed their time out so far.  Once she was feeling better, Vivien would make sure Rosaline took all of the pregnancy tests, and if she truly was pregnant, would get her started on taking prenatal vitamins.

At home, Rose quickly grabbed the bag of pregnancy tests and made her way upstairs, telling her mother she was going to lay down for a while. Once up the stairs, Rose heard Tate's voice coming from across the hall in her sister's room. That same bad feeling was still pounding in her head, and she rushed across the hall to see Tate pulling her passed out sister off of her bed.

After hearing Violet's bedroom door open, Tate turned around to see Rosaline standing there, making the quick connection as she looked from Violet to the empty pill bottle on the bed. Running over, Rose helped Tate by lifting up her sister's legs, both of them working quickly to carry her down the hallway and into the bathroom.

Once inside, they lifted Violet into the tub and Rose sat behind her, holding her sister up against her body as Tate turned on the cold water to try and wake the girl up.

" _Violet. Violet don't you dare die on me._ " Rose cried, quickly moving her hand to her sister's mouth, where she inserted two fingers to the back of her throat, making the older girl's body jerk as she gagged and sat forward, throwing up. Rose cried as she rubbed her sister's back, watching as the girl turned around and looked at her sister, then over at Tate and began crying, turning slightly and leaning back in her younger sister's embrace, who just held her close and let her cry until she trailed off and stopped. Feeling a sense of panic as the energy levels of the house rose, Rosaline pulled back and looked at her sister, who had closed her eyes and stopped breathing.

"Violet..?" Rose whispered, looking at her sister. " _Violet_?" She called out louder, then raised a shaky hand to her sister's throat, feeling around for her pulse. When she felt nothing, she began crying again, warm tears welling up and burning her eyes, falling down her cheeks and mixing with the cold spray of the shower still running overhead. "Violet, please wake up!" She cried, pulling her sister back to her chest, rocking her back and forth until Tate reached out with a hesitant hand and grabbed her shoulder, making her stop.

Looking over at Tate, who reached over them and turned off the water, Rose's lip quivered. She may be a cold person to others, but this was her  _sister_. Her big sister, who used to share her toys, hold her hand, check for monsters under her bed, and make sure she was careful around things like the coffee table. Her big sister, who was currently laying in her arms, cold, motionless,  _dead_.

"Come on, let's... We have to hide her body. Finding Violet like this will only make things worse for your parents." Tate reasoned, and Rose nodded sadly, sniffling.

She knew that he was right, and so, when they heard the door downstairs close, they carried Violet's body down the stairs, all the way into the basement, where Tate drug her into the crawlspace to hide it. When he came out, he immediately wrapped his arms around Rosaline, who held onto him as well as she broke down crying again.

The only time they separated for the rest of the night was when Vivien came home from meeting the ultrasound technician at the church and decided it was time for Rose to take the pregnancy tests. And even then, Tate was present, made known to Vivien that he was there, sitting on the edge of Rose's bed as they all waited for the longest five minutes of their lives to be over. And when it was, it was the only happy moment that Rose could remember feeling that day, as on a couple of tests, two lines appeared, signalling she was pregnant, and on two others, the word ' _Pregnant_ ' appeared on the small screens.

Her sister died and she found out she really was pregnant in the same day. It was a roller coaster of emotion that day, if nothing else.


	7. episode seven.

Sitting in the sterile room with both her mother and father, Rosaline was a ball of nerves. It had been a week since Violet had committed suicide, and she was back in the house, none the wiser. She had no idea she had died, or that her body was hidden in the crawlspace underneath the house, but she knew that she was going to be an aunt, and a big sister again, and while she thought it was definitely strange that the two things were happening so close together, she was still happy.

Ben, however, had not been so happy when he found out he was going to be a grandfather. That his  _sixteen year old daughter_  was going to be a mother. He had pressed for details, but none of the women would relent, making him give up for the time being.

Now, back in the room with her mother and father, Rose lifted her head up as Dr. Hall entered, looking over all of them, her eyes landing on Rose before going back to her parents.

"Are we having another tough day?" Dr. Hall asked softly, looking at Vivien, who shook her head.

"No, we're fine. Just eager to get the results."

"Of course. You must be very anxious. And this must be your daughter, my new patient, Rosaline, correct?" Hall asked, sitting on the stool before holding out her hand to Rose, who smiled and took the woman's hand in her own, sharing a brief shake before releasing.

"Yes, we think she's about six weeks along now." Vivien says, as Rosaline isn't entirely sure of what to say or do in this situation. Getting back onto the topic of the amniocentesis results, Vivien glances at the papers the doctor is holding. "We're also wanting to make sure everything's okay with the baby. You didn't see anything unusual?  _Hooves_  or anything?" Vivien asks casually in a joking tone, causing Ben to look at her with a strange expression.

"What?"

"Not at all" Dr. Hall says. "And, Dr. Harmon, that's not a ridiculous fear. Every pregnant woman worries they've got a little devil in them." Halls says, semi-joking as she flips through a few pages before looking at the redheaded woman. "I don't want you to get all worked up, Vivien. You're having twins." The doctor announces with a small smile.

Vivien's eyes widen and she glances around the room before settling her gaze back on her obstetrician. " _What_?"

"Twins?" Ben asks, receiving a nod from the other doctor.

"And they're both perfectly healthy.  _Congratulations._  Now, let's get on to new mama over here. I'll take you back for an ultrasound, check how far along you are, and the next time you come in, which should be at twelve weeks, I would recommend, then we will be able to hear the heartbeat, loud and clear." Dr. Hall said, standing up with a smile directed towards Rosaline.

Motioning for the young girl to follow her, the doctor leads her down the hallway and into the ultrasound room, where Rose lays back on the reclined chair and lifts her shirt. There, at her stomach, is the smallest beginnings of a protrusion from the her otherwise mostly flat stomach. Looking down at the little bump, Rose's eyes widen slightly. She hadn't bothered looking at her stomach before now, figuring there would be no difference so early on.

Smiling, Dr. Hall squirted the cool jelly onto her stomach and pulled the machine over, beginning the process of finding the little speck.

"With you being so young, I can't help but ask if you know who the father is." Dr. Hall said quietly, glancing over at Rosaline, who stared at the woman plainly, unfazed by the question.

"Yes." Rose replied simply, not planning to elaborate if the woman didn't ask her to. And she didn't. Dr. Hall was very kind, making a few jokes as she ran the device over her stomach, stopping in surprise when she found that the fetus was bigger than she was expecting, and the sound of the baby's quick heartbeat was loud and clear.

"Huh, that's surprising. Are you certain it's only six weeks? It looks to be more around ten to twelve weeks, but it's only the twelfth. Interesting. Well, don't worry, your baby is perfectly healthy, and maturing quickly. Here it is, and that's the sound of its heartbeat. Would you like me to print off a couple of copies?" Dr. Hall asked with a smile after turning the screen to face Rose, who was now staring at the tiny thing with wonder in her eyes as she listened to the heartbeat playing through the speakers.

"Yes, please, I would appreciate that very much." The answer was quiet, as Rose was looking at the little baby. After a few more seconds of staring at it, Dr. Hall turned off the machine and gave Rose a few paper towels to wipe the gel off of her stomach with.

"I'll have the copies for you when I come back in, and in the meantime, I'll send your parents in so that you three can talk for a bit. And congratulations, Rosaline." The woman said, smiling before leaving the room.

Laying back on the seat, Rose stared up at the florescent lights of the small room, unsure of what she was supposed to feel in this moment. Shock, sure. She was shocked, there was a little thing growing inside of her, and in  _nine months_  it was going to be bursting out of her and become a crying, screaming, eating, shitting  _person_. What kind of life would it have at the  _Murder House_? What if one of the spirits tried to kill it? What if Nora wasn't satisfied with one of Vivien's children? Or if  _Hayden_  decided to take it away from her.

Her hands clenched on the armrests as she thought about these things, but when she heard the door to the room open, she sat up and looked over at her parents, who had just walked in with nervous expressions.

"Rosaline, Dr. Hall said that the fetus looks larger than six weeks. Are you maybe not telling us something, because you're afraid we'll be upset? I promise you, sweetie, if that's what you're thinking, please, don't. Especially not in this situation. We love you,  _no matter what_." Ben said, walking over to his daughter's side before taking one of her hands into his own.

Looking over at her father, Rosaline shook her head. "I'm not  _lying_  to you. Stop trying to shrink me like you have for the past six years. It was Halloween night." She said, telling a small white lie. It was the morning after Halloween night, but a few hours weren't going to make a difference, and it was easier to say that it happened outside of the house than to explain how Tate, who Ben didn't know was the father, had gotten into the house and into her  _bedroom_  to begin with.

Sighing, Ben nodded. "Alright, I'm sorry. I just want you and my first grandchild to be healthy and  _safe_." Her father said, glancing up at Vivien.

Her mother, who had been silent up until this this point, reached over and grabbed her daughter's other hand, giving her a small smile. "It's gonna be okay, sweetie."

For the rest of the time, they sat relatively in silence until the doctor opened the door and stepped inside, looking up and smiling at the family.

"Alright you three, baby is looking very healthy, maturing quickly, and mommy is looking good. I've already scheduled your next appointments, and I'm assuming the two of you will want to come in on the same days?" Dr. Hall asked, looking between the mother and daughter, who smiled and nodded in return. "Very good then. Here are the pictures from the ultrasound, and that is all I have for you. You're free to go." She said, handing Rosaline a brown clasp envelope that felt a bit thicker at the bottom due to the pictures within.

Thanking the doctor, the three of them left and headed home, where Vivien and Rosaline headed to the house, and Ben went to the apartment he was renting.

* * *

 

Once inside the house, Rosaline and Vivien gathered in the kitchen with Moira, and Rosaline brought out the envelope the doctor had given her, unclasping it and spilling out the ultrasound pictures from inside. They were grainy and in black and white, but the baby was obvious. It was real, and it was inside her. The three women looked at the various pictures for a few minutes, smiling and laughing until Rose grew bored of the conversation and said she was going to go show Violet.

Walking upstairs, pictures in hand, Rosaline walked into Violet's bedroom, only to not see her there. Glancing around, she walked out and headed down the hallway to the bathroom, where she caught her sister cutting her wrist.

"Hey! Stop it!" Rose yelled, making Violet jump and turn to look at her. Stepping into the bathroom, Rose grabbed a rag and pressed it gently against the bleeding wound. "Hey, look at me. I want you to promise me that you'll never cut again. Because guess what, little baby is really going to need it's aunt Violet." Rosaline said, holding up the pictures with her free hand.

Violet's eyes widened and she reached out for the ultrasound pictures, looking them over with glistening eyes. "I can't believe this is happening. You're having a  _child_. My little sister." She said softly, then looked up at her before pulling her into a semi-awkward hug. "I promise."

About half an hour later, the trio were sat in Rosaline's room, all three of them on the bed. Rose and Tate were cuddled up at the head of the bed, Tate holding up the ultrasound pictures in one hand and staring at them like he had been doing since they were shown to him, his other arm wrapped around Rose's shoulders, holding her close to him. Violet was sitting at the end of the bed, leaning back against the footboard of the bed with her legs pulled up against her chest. Music was playing softly in the background, and they were talking about the family dinner Vivien had come up and mentioned to the girl's earlier.

"They planned some brutal family dinner for tonight. Like it's gonna make me  _feel_  better." Violet complained, scoffing at the thought.

There was a quiet pause in the conversation before Tate took a breath.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" Tate asked, making Rose turn her head and look at him with a sharp gaze.

"Why are you asking  _me_?" Violet asked, looking over at him.

Tate dropped the hand that he had been holding up the ultrasound pictures with onto his chest, meeting Violet's gaze.

"I don't know." He started, furrowing his brow in mock confusion. "It can't all be shit, right?"Tate asked, earning a small shrug from Violet. "There's gotta be someplace better, somewhere. For people like you two, at least." He said, turning his head to look at Rose as well, who had a slightly upset expression.

"Not you?" Violet asked, Tate's gaze going back to her.

"Ever since you guys got here, this is the better place." He said softly, lifting the pictures back up.

Rosaline rolled over onto her side and wrapped her arm around his torso, resting her head on his chest silently.

* * *

 

An hour later, Rose and Violet were sitting in the dining room, plates of food before them. Violet hadn't touched her food, while Rose was silently eating, not looking up at either of their parents. This night was for Violet, but when Violet left, like all of them knew she would, they would probably turn the heat on to Rosaline.

"You're not eating anything." Vivien said, finally breaking the silence.

"I'm not hungry. I'm pretty stuffed on bullshit." Violet replied plainly.

"Your mother and I know that you're upset." Ben started. "Maybe there's some things you want to talk about."

"Like who we're gonna live with after you get divorced?" Violet asked sardonically, looking at their father. "Is there a third option? 'Cause both of you kind of make me want to kill myself." Violet said, looking at both of their parents. "Is that what you guys are afraid of? Why else would you want to try to  _actually_  deal with the problem?" She posed, looking back at their piece of shit father.

"You never leave your room. You barely eat. These are  _textbook_  signs of depression. We're  _very concerned_ , Vi." Ben said, speaking softly as though raising his voice would make his oldest pick up the steak knife and slit her wrists right in front of them.

Standing up from the table, Violet turned in the doorway of the dining room to look back at the three people sitting at the table, although her real focus was on their parents.

" _Look_ ,  _you guys_  dragged us all the way out here to  _save our family. Then_  you decide to break up. You buy a house that we  _actually_  like. Then you're telling us you've selling it,  _without even asking_  what we want. So,  _fine_ , I'm depressed. But I'm not gonna  _off myself_. So you can go back to your policy of benign neglect." Once she was done, Violet turned and walked off, heading back up to her bedroom.

Rosaline, however, stayed seated, continuing to eat in silence as her parent's started talking as though they had forgotten she was there, which was completely fine with her.

"We have  _two_  prospective buyers." Her head perked up when she heard her mother saying this. "One guy who's, uh, Persian, I think."

"And the other?" Ben asked, back to eating dinner.

"The other guy has this really badly burned face. I felt terrible for him." At this, both Rosaline and Ben both stopped eating and glanced at each other. Rosaline quickly went back to eating, finding she had lost her appetite, but carried on until her plate was mostly empty, even as her parents continued to argue.

Once she was done, Rose stood up from the table and quickly went upstairs and into her room, where she found Tate was laying on her bed, reading a book. Walking over to him, Rose flopped down on her back beside him, sighing heavily.

* * *

 

Another week and another doctor appointment later, Rose was at home, working on some of the homeschooling she hadn't done in what felt like years, Tate was laying on her bed, reading a book when they heard the sound of Beau's ball rolling across the ceiling. Looking over at Tate, she smiled to him.

"We'll go spend some time with him when I finish this. Mom bought some new books when we went out earlier, he should enjoy them." She said softly, earning a smile from Tate. He was glad that she wasn't scared of Beau, and that she actually  _wanted_  to spend time with him. Especially when he got lonely like he probably was right now.

The sound of the ball rolling across the ceiling again made Rose smile as she turned back to the work before her, hoping to finish it quickly. And then the sound of Beau's chains rattling, followed almost immediately by a scream made her freeze and drop her pen.

" _Violet!_ " Rose yelled, standing up quickly from her desk before running out into the hallway, where she saw that the staircase had been brought down.

"You're scaring her.  _Go away!_ " She heard Tate yell as she climbed up the stairs.

Once she was in the attic, she wasn't surprised to see Tate holding Violet, and when she walked over, panting lightly, she looked over to where Beau usually was, only to see an empty spot. It made her chest ache and her breathing feel constricted for a moment, but she pushed the feelings aside.

"They're from the past. The ghosts of people who've died here. They're appearing to you now because you're evolved. Don't be scared. All you have to do is tell them to go away, and they will." Tate explained to Violet, who looked at him confused.

"You really know your way around this house."

"I guess I do." Tate said, hesitating as to whether or not he should elaborate. Feeling Rose's hand on his back, he took a small breath. "I've been exploring after my sessions.  _Don't tell your dad_." He said, chuckling.

"Yeah, just like I won't tell our dad that you knocked my sister up." Violet said, smirking, looking over at Rose, who had a similar smirk on her lips, but kept glancing over to where Beau had been with worry in her eyes.

A few minutes later, Tate and Violet were digging through some of the hidden things in the attic, while Rosaline made her way over to where the ghost had been, sitting down next to a small pile of children's books she had brought up weeks ago. She felt bad that Tate had had to tell Beau to go away, but she understood. Violet had been scared, she wouldn't have understood, but it was still sad.

Sitting with her hand resting beside her, Rose looked down when she felt a hand tentatively touch her own. Looking back, she saw that Beau had silently reappeared, and she smiled, turning her hand palm up so that he could hold her hand.

Tate, across the attic, cast a glance over toward Rosaline, doing a double-take when he saw that Beau had reappeared, and they were sitting, silently holding hands. It made a smile stretch across his face, which of course Rosaline looked over and saw, making him blush bashfully and turn his head away to dig a little deeper into the hiding spot and pull out a little black box that contained pictures of the house when it was first built and the original owners, the Montgomery's. Violet, curious, decided to take the box with her when they decided to leave the attic.

* * *

 

At the end of Tate's therapy session with Dr. Harmon, he noticed a change of demeanor in the man, and decided to let the big secret slip.

"You know, I really like talkin' to you, Dr. Harmon. You've helped me a lot. Maybe it's the drugs." Tate said, both men chuckling. "I don't have anymore visions. I think it might have just been like a... Like a screwy chemical imbalance. And, of course, the parenting."

"Well, I'm glad you feel so much better, Tate. I really am." Ben said, then checked his watch. "Our session's over for today." And Tate nodded as Ben sat forward and turned off the tape recorder. Tate stood up from the couch he had become so acquainted with and walked toward the door of the office.

"I half-expected a congratulations today, y'know?" Tate said with a chuckle, looking back at Ben, who looked confused for a moment, before coming to the conclusion that he hadn't really congratulated Tate for not having anymore visions.

"Ah, right, of course. I apologize, congratulations, Tate." Ben said, smiling at the  _young_  boy, who smiled in return. Tate's smile, however, was hiding more sinister intentions.

"Thanks, doc. Y'know, I had never really thought about being a father, but every time I look at those pictures, I just can't help but smile. Y'know?" Tate asked rhetorically, smiling a sincere smile at just the thought, while Ben's smile had vanished completely, and he was sitting there with a frown on his face, confusion clearly surfacing in his features. "See ya later, Dr. Harmon." Tate said with a small smile, that when he turned around, turned into a dark smirk, leaving Ben to process the information as he disappeared out through the front door and reappeared in Rose's room.

"The house is humming again, did you tell him?" Rose asked, looking up at her boyfriend over the top of a book.

"I may have  _implied_." Tate said coyly, walking over and crawling onto the bed, where he hovered over Rosaline before leaning down and kissing her.

It was about half an hour, and one round of sweaty sex later when they heard Constance walking down the hallway, calling out quietly for her son. Groaning quietly, Tate buried his head in Rose's shoulder, not wanting to see the old bitch. Rose, however, rubbed his hair gently and told him to just go let her see him. And so, he complied, standing up and getting dressed before stepping into the hallway after his mother had walked past.

"What do you want?" He asked, watching as the old woman jumped slightly and turned around, not expecting him to actually show up. But she looked so happy that he had, while it almost made him sick to his stomach just to see her face.

"Oh. Well, I wanted to see you." Constance said quietly, stepping forward, reaching up to caress his cheek, and looking disappointed as he jerked away from her hand. "How is your... Lovely little baby doing?" She asked, glancing over at the doorway to Rose's room.

"It'll be fine, considering it won't have  _you_  as its mother." Tate said sharply, glaring at the woman, whose smile faltered at the thought of never getting to see her grandbaby.

"Well, are you feeling any better? Are the... Visits with the good doctor  _helping_ you?"

" _Yeah._  We're really getting to the root of the problem...  _Turns out I hate my mother._ " Tate said darkly, watching as the small smile fell from the whore's face, then turned and walked back into Rose's bedroom.

Once inside her room, Tate closed the door and turned around to see Rose standing in front of a mirror, over-sized shirt pulled up, exposing her stomach rounding stomach. Smiling, Tate walked over and stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her to rest both his hands on her stomach.

"What a picture perfect moment." Rose murmured, looking over the two, or  _three_  depending on how one thought of the situation, of them.

"You're always a picture perfect moment." Tate said, leaning forward and kissing her cheek.

"Oh god, you two are so cheesy, I think I might be  _sick_." A teasing voice called out from behind them, making them smile and turn around and look at Violet, who was leaning against the door frame, arms crossed over her chest, a little smile tugging at the girl's lips. "Come on, I wanna look at those photos." She said, motioning with her head to her bedroom. "By the way, you might wanna crack a window, it smells like  _sex_  in here." She teased once more, laughing as she ran out of the doorway as she saw a pillow coming her way, thrown by Tate.

Inside of Violet's room, the two girls were sitting side by side on the bed, looking through the old photographs when there was a knock at the door.

"Can I come in?" Vivien asked, opening the door and poking her head inside. Neither girl said anything, and their mother walked inside. "Oh, Rosaline. Good, you're here too. You should know Tate told your father, earlier after his session ended. That he's the father. He... Well, you father left the house pretty upset. But, I mainly came in here to tell you two that it looks like this guy's pretty serious about buying the house. I mean, we won't know officially until it's actually in escrow, but I wanted to talk to you about it." Vivien explained, walking over and sitting on the edge of the bed, facing the girls.

"Well, then what?" Violet asked.

"Well then I think us three will go stay with your aunt Jo till we find a place." Vivien explained softly.

"What about Dad?"

"Well, Dad still has patients and... I don't really know, sweetheart. We haven't figured it all out yet. This wasn't the way it was supposed to go, honey." Vivien said, gently shaking her head. "Your dad and I really loved each other."

"How'd you know you loved him when you first met?" Rose asked, earning a small smile from her mother.

"Well, he was... He was handsome and kind. But I don't know. The thing is,  _when you fall in love,_  it's kind of like  _you go crazy_ , and before you know it,  _the whole world looks different, and then you'll do anything for the other person._ " Vivien explained, a little smile on her lips the entire time. "Why do you ask?" She questioned, part of her wanting to hear her daughter say that she loved someone, and part of her dreading it.

"No reason." Rose said, smiling softly to her mother, who was equal parts relieved and concerned. "Just wondering if what I was feeling was love." She finished quietly, looking down at the old pictures in her hands.

"Here, look at this." Violet said, handing her mother the old picture of the house she had been holding.

" _Wow_. That's the house." Vivien said, looking down at the picture of the house when it had first been built.

"Yeah. When it was first built." Violet said.

"Where'd you find all this stuff?"

"In the attic." Violet said as her mother picked up a picture of Nora and Charles Montgomery, with baby Thaddeus.

"That's the original owners. Nora and Charles Montgomery, with their baby, Thaddeus." Rosaline explained, watching as her mother's expression changed.

_Vivien looked as though she had seen a ghost._


	8. episode eight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is around this time that I would like to say that the timeline makes no sense. I've been through the chapters, I've been through the episodes, I've been through the wikia, I've looked up timelines for the show, annnd, I've got nothing. I'm sorry, but please, just bear with me here. According to things I've read, early September is when Tate rapes Vivien, and six months later, in March, is when she has the baby, because she mentions that she's only six months pregnant. Now, that's not possible, if at the six month mark, in episode 8, Vivien is just being sent to the asylum. She's supposed to be in the asylum for several months. So, I don't think it's my timeline that is necessarily messed up, but the show in general. I'm not saying it's definitely not my fault, because it may very well be, but, like, I'm just saying. Bear with me, please. Facts and things are gonna get dicey over these last few chapters, lol. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed it thus far.<3

It had officially been six months since the Harmon's had moved into the house, and the women, excluding Violet, were sitting in the kitchen. Marcy and Moira were there, and Vivien was holding a picture of the Montgomery's, talking to Marcy about how the woman had been in the house. Moira and Rosaline shared a glance, but said nothing as Marcy told some story about her pregnant cousin's hallucinations.

"There are things in this world that can't be explained by the rational mind." Moira cut in.

"I'd  _love_  to spend the day debating the supernatural, but I've got to pop by Mr. Escandarian's office. He's not answering my calls, and if we don't open escrow, you're gonna have a bigger problem than your little ghost story. Or do we think  _he's a ghost too?_ " Marcy mocked before leaving the house.

"I, for one, believe in things unseen." Moira began, walking over to where Vivien and Rosaline were sitting at the island. In return, Rosaline turned her head to the older woman, narrowing her eyes. "Who knows, Mrs. Harmon?  _We're all just lost souls, aren't we?_ "

"Maybe I am going crazy." Vivien said, putting a hand to her forehead and sighing.

* * *

 

It was that afternoon that Rosaline and Violet were in the basement, rolling a ball back and forth while Rose tried to softly coax Beau out of hiding.

"You wanna play? Come on, she won't hurt you." Rose said softly as Violet rolled the ball into the darkness.

"Who are you talkin' to?" Ben suddenly asked from halfway up the stairs leading to the basement, making both of the girls jump slightly. Standing up, they looked at their father.

"No one." Violet answered.

"Come upstairs. There's something we need to discuss." Ben said, glancing over towards where they had rolled the ball.

"A discussion, oh shit." Violet said, walking up the stairs with Rose.

Now standing outside of their father's office, Rosaline was listening as Ben asked Violet why she hadn't been to school for the past two weeks.

"I don't like it. It's boring and they bully me." Violet answered plainly.

"What does that mean?" Ben questioned.

"That is so  _you_. Some kids say they're bullied and their parents just pull them right out.  _You_  ask me to  _define_  bullying. But you don't even send Rosaline to school!" Violet yelled.

"You know we couldn't send her to school with the state she was in, Violet, we've had this discussion... Have you told your mom about this?" Their father asked after sighing.

Violet chuckled. "How is that a big,  _fancy_  shrink hasn't noticed that his wife has totally lost her shit?"

"Violet, look at me." Ben said, waiting for his daughter to look at him. " _Look at me_." He stated again. "What's going on with her?"

" _Well_ , when she's not in bed or worrying about absolutely  _everything_ ,  _she's eating raw brains_. Maybe she thinks the twins are stealing hers 'cause that's kinda how it seems." Violet said, making Rosaline outside of the room clench her fist.

"Well, it sounds like, um, your mom is depressed, and you're feeling very alone and isolated." Ben said, immediately trying to rationalize this situation.

" _This isn't about me_. I'm saying Mom's  _crazy_ , and it's  _your_  fault.  _You_  drove her crazy. You're a  _cheater_. Young girls, old ladies with feather dusters, yeah, Rosaline told me about what she saw and the argument you guys had when you tried to fire Moira. You're so weird and pathetic. I'm surprised you haven't gone after  _me_." Violet ranted glaring at her father.

"I'm  _still_  your father. Do  _not_  talk to me like that."

"I don't have anything more to say anyway.  _Session's over._ " Violet said, standing up and leaving the office, ignoring their father calling after her.

* * *

 

Later that same night, Moira walked into the kitchen where Vivien was sitting at the island, the kettle on the stove, and she was crying.

"Madam, are you alright?" Moira asked, taking the teakettle that had just begun whistling off of the stove to pour Vivien a cup of tea. 

Vivien nodded solemnly. "It's my own fault. I... I read labels on  _everything,_ and then, when it really counted, I just didn't. I just followed directions blindly. My doctor gave me a prescription last week for a drug for nausea, and... I just checked it on the Internet, and it says that it can cause fever and seizures and, um, vision changes. That's the only explanation."

"For what, madam?" Moira asked, suspecting that  _Hayden_  had been trying to sabotage Vivien, trying to drive her crazy.

"For all the crazy stuff that's been happening. And my doctor never even told me about the side effects."

Moira opened a couple of packages of tea leaves, glancing over at Vivien. "Doctors are charlatans."

Vivien looked at the older maid and whispered to her, "My mind is playing tricks on me, Moira. I'm literally seeing things." And then looked down, her eyes filling with tears.

"There, there, madam." Moira comforted, gently rubbing up and down one of Vivien's arms. "You just need a good cry. Sometimes it's the best possible thing."

"And everybody thinks I'm crazy," Vivien said, her voice breaking as she spoke. "I know Ben does. I know it. And I've been too embarrassed to call Luke."

"That's what men do." Moira started. "They make you think you're crazy so they can have their fun." Moira then went on explain the story of the book,  _The Yellow Wallpaper_ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Once she was done, she carried on with her point. "Since the beginning of time, men find excuses to lock women away. They make up diseases, like hysteria. Do you know where that word comes from? The Greek word for uterus. In the second century, they thought it was caused by sexual deprivation, and the only possible cure was hysterical paroxysm. Orgasms.  _Doctors_  would masturbate women in their office and call it medicine."

"I had no idea." Vivien said, shaking her head gently.

"It was a hundred years ago, but we're no better off today. Men are still inventing ways to drive women over the edge. Look at you and Mr. Harmon.  _Cheating on you_ , and leaving you here, pregnant with twins, alone, to care for not only your truant teenage daughter, but also your pregnant teenage daughter as well.  _Any_  woman would lose her mind..." Moira ranted on, then paused for a moment. "May I speak freely, Mrs. Harmon?"

"Yes." Vivien answered simply, looking up at her maid.

"You are not crazy. And the strange things you are experiencing, I'm afraid it's not the drugs. I've never said this to any of my employers, for fear of losing their trust or my job, but this house is possessed. Things break, disappear. Doors open for no reason. There are spirits here. Malevolent spirits. Mrs. Harmon, please hear me.  _You need to get out while you still can._  I fear for you if you don't." Moira explained, watching as Vivien's eyes widened, taking in everything she said.

In the next moment, Vivien was standing up and rushing up the stairs to pack and get her daughters out of the house.

While Vivien was running around upstairs, Rosaline wandered into the kitchen and looked at the old maid. "And just what is it you think you're doing, Moira?"

"I am trying to protect both you and your mother's unborn children, as well as your sister. Your souls do not need to be trapped here along with the rest of us."  Moira said quietly, not meeting Rose's eye.

Rose, who was annoyed and hormonal, quickly stepped forward and shoved the old woman back into the counter behind her. "You know that I can't leave this house. As long as he's here I'm staying." Rose said, then snapped her head to the sound of running footsteps coming down the staircase and her mother shouting that Rose must have been over at Constance's and they would stop to pick her up. Once the front door closed, Rose clenched her jaw and looked back at the maid, who appeared to be pleased with herself.

"Please, miss, you need to leave this house while you still can. Get away from the little  _psycho_  before it's too late and both you and your baby are doomed." Moira pleaded once more, only for Tate to show up, wrapping his arms around Rose from behind and pull her away from the old woman.

"Don't worry, I sent the intruders to wait in the car. I told them not to hurt them though." Tate whispered into her ear, pressing a kiss just beneath it while glaring at the old woman.

"The two of you truly are meant to be together, aren't you? You're both  _crazy_." Moira said, stepping away from them a bit more.

The sound of her mother and sister's screams could be heard coming from the car outside, and Rose turned to the old maid. "I understand, I really do. You're scared, you're trapped. You don't want more people to be added to this hellhole of a house." Rose began, then stepped out of Tate's arms and toward the woman, a small, innocent smile on her lips. "But if I hear of you trying to convince my family to leave again, I'll put a bullet through your other eye." Her voice was soft as she said these words, and the sound of the front door slamming shut and the two women running back inside made Rosaline turn around and rush out into the entryway.

"What's going on?!" Rose asked, her eyes wide in confusion as she looked at the two women, Vivien seemed hysterical, as did Violet, and her mother rushed to call the police. Walking over to Violet, she wrapped her arms around her sister, her pregnant belly pressing against Violet's flat stomach as they held onto each other.

Hearing their mother's rushed words and explanation, Rose separated from her sister and turned to the woman, furrowing her brow in mock confusion. "There were people in the car?"

* * *

 

The police had come to the house, found no signs of anyone anywhere, and then left. The next morning  _Ben_  was now at the house, and he and Vivien were screaming at each other. Meanwhile, Rose, Violet, and Tate were all sitting on Violet's bed, Violet staring at Tate with a strange expression.

"You really are here, aren't you?" Violet asked, making both Rose and Tate lift their heads from the books they had been reading to look at the girl across from them.

"Of course I am. I'll always be here." Tate said, smiling softly, then looked at Rose. "If that's what you want." He finished, making Rose smile and lean forward, pecking his lips.

As they shared their sweet moment, Violet looked off to the side, staring at nothing in particular as she thought about the events of last night, and what she had told the police.

"They'll always be here too, won't they?" She questioned quietly. "The... Whatever. Others."

"They can't hurt us, Violet." Tate said, looking over at Violet while Rose pressed gently kisses along his jawline and down his neck.

"Those freaks who tried to kill me and my mom, they're dead, aren't they? We saw them outside last night. Our mom's  _totally_  freaked out. She thinks they're back to finish what they started. I mean, she called the police, and our dad rushed over." Violet said quickly, turning her attention back to Tate with confusion in her eyes.

"They're just trying to scare you. That's all they can do now." Tate explained, a small smile on his lips.

"I wish I could tell mom that." Violet said, looking back off to the side.

At this, Tate sat up quickly, grabbing Violet's attention.

" _You can't._  You can't. You can't." He said, growing quieter each time. "Violet, if you tell anyone what we know, they'll say you're crazy. They'll wanna lock you up. They'll try to take you away from here." Tate explained quickly, then looked at Rose and back to Violet. "We'd never see each other again."

" _Violet._ " Ben's voice was heard. " _Can you come downstairs?_ "

"Coming!" Violet called back, glancing at Tate before climbing off of the bed.

Rose quickly reached out and grabbed her sister's wrist, stopping her.

"You can't tell them, Vi. If they find out about any of this, they'll try harder than ever to get us out of here." Rose said, a pleading look in her eyes as she let go of her sister and allowed the older girl to go down and talk to their parents.

* * *

 

Tate had disappeared down into the basement when Ben had come upstairs to talk to Rosaline. He was now rocking back and forth on the back legs of a chair in an alcove, deep in thought when Hayden made herself known.

" _Aw_. Look at Little Lord Fauntleroy. Writing sorrowful sonnets in your head to that little nightingale bitch? ' _Adieu, nightingale! Thy plaintive anthem fades._ '" Hayden recites, stepping from around the corner before walking closer to Tate.

"That's Keats." Tate says, annoyed.

"Who  _gives_  a shit? You're like a girl, sulking down here in the basement instead of  _doing_  something about what's really bothering you." Hayden accused, stepping even closer.

"I'm  _tired_  of hurting people." Tate said plainly, looking up at Hayden.

"Do you want her to go away? Your pregnant little bitch with  _your_  baby. 'Cause Vivien booked their tickets. I heard her.  _You know what you have to do._ " Hayden said, now standing in front of Tate, who looked away momentarily before snapping his gaze back up to meet hers.

"Yeah, I do. I just have to prepare myself. It's not  _fun_." Tate said, his eyes focusing instead on the wall in front of him now.

"You wanna fool around, while you work your way up to it?" Hayden suggested, smirking as she looked at the blonde. She lifted up her foot and kicked away the box Tate's foot had been supporting his weight on the back legs of the chair on, making the front chair legs slam onto the ground.

"Come on." She said, stepping forward and sliding herself onto his lap, resting one hand at the base of his neck, the other sliding down his arm.

"I'm not into it." Tate said, looking away from the woman.

Running her hand over Tate's body, Hayden started to lean towards the boy. "What is it about being  _dead_  that makes me  _so horny_?"

At this rhetorical question, Tate reached up and clamped his hand around the girl's neck, pushing her up and off of him. " _Quit it._ " He said, then stood up, pushing Hayden back into the wall. "I'm in love." The words made Hayden sick to her stomach, and as Tate turned and walked away, she gritted her teeth before yelling after him.

"You better locate your balls before you go in there! That  _bitch_  is tough!"

* * *

 

Later that night, Tate was standing at the end of Rosaline's bed, as he had once done month ago, only this time she had been asleep for several hours already. He felt...  _Guilty_  for what he was about to do. Tate had contemplated telling Rose what he had planned, but decided against it, perhaps against his better judgement. He just didn't want to place any unnecessary stress on her, and now, as he was suited up in the full latex suit, all he wanted to do was get this over with so that he could lay down with her.

And so, Tate disappeared, going into the master bedroom in order to make Vivien go crazy. It started with the floorboards creaking once the lights were off, him stepping out of the shadows to stand in front of the window, disappearing as soon as the woman turned the lights on. When she got up and walked over to the window, checking the curtains, he walked by behind her, disappearing before she turned around.

And then he was behind her, grabbing her and moving to cover her mouth, but she screamed before he was able. Quickly letting go of her with a shove, she hit the wall and turned off the lights before glancing around the room, seeing nothing.

Reaching into the nightstand, Vivien pulled out her beloved panic button and pressed it twice before grabbing the handgun she had swiped off of Marcy earlier, looking around the room in a panic when the bedroom door opened behind her. Turning around, Vivien screamed and fired the gun, shooting her husband, Ben.

Jolting awake at the gunshot, Rosaline sat up and looked around the room, slightly panicked as she ran over to her bedroom door and bolted it shut. She may be willing to fight against people with knives with no remorse, but someone with a gun?  _Fuck that._  Plus the fact that now she was four months pregnant, but looked like an energy saving car had decided to park in her womb. Even after countless ultrasounds confirming she was only having one child and many unanswered questions as to why it was developing so quickly, Rosaline wasn't about to lose this baby to  _anything_.

A few minutes had gone by when the sound of sirens began growing closer, but that wasn't what Rosaline took notice of. No, she was taking notice of the fact that Tate hadn't appeared to her yet, even after her calling out to him as loud as she dared. It wasn't until Violet came knocking on her door, explaining what was going on did Rose unlock it. Looking at her sister with a furrowed brow and narrowed eyes, Rose tilts her head slightly.

"Shh. Just listen." Rosaline said as Violet opened her mouth to ask what was wrong.

The two of them stood silently until Ben called out to the two of them and asked them to come downstairs.

"Tell him I'm not feeling well. The noise waking me up upset me and I'm going back to sleep." Rosaline said, gently turning her sister by the shoulder toward the staircase.

Violet gave her an odd glance over her shoulder before nodding and walking down the stairs. Once Violet was downstairs, Rosaline heard her mother in her bedroom, struggling with something, and that telltale sound of the latex suit. Gritting her teeth, Rosaline exited her room and rushed down the hallway, throwing open the bedroom door to see Tate forcing her mother to the ground while Hayden leaned against the far wall and mocked Vivien.

"He liked it so much the first time, he's going for round  _two_." Said Hayden.

"So nice to see that I've been informed of your  _activities_ , dear." Rose said boredly from the doorway, arms crossed over her chest as Tate froze, his head whipping around to look at Rosaline, who had a fire burning in her gaze.

Hayden, however, was not deterred by her appearance.

"Forget that bitch, and  _finish_  what we came up here to do!" She yelled.

Tate, however, was scrambling to his feet up off of Vivien, who continued struggling on the floor even after he was up, and ran out of the room after Rose. Rosaline, however, had different ideas. She walked into her bedroom and closed the door behind herself, not surprised when she turned around and saw Tate standing there, tears gathering in his eyes, mask off.

"I-I wasn't gonna do it. I was just tryin' to scare her, I  _promise_." Tate explained, even before she could say anything, the sound of the commotion dying down in the master bedroom as Ben had obviously made his way up from all of the noise.

"Why are you  _lying_  to me, Tate?" Rose asked straight out, her voice flat.

"I-I'm not. I'm not,  _I swear_." Tate said, stepping toward her.

"You're still lying to me. Go away, Tate, I don't want to talk to you right now." She said, walking past Tate without a glance.

Tate, who had barely been keeping his emotions in check as it was, began to cry. The tears ran down his cheeks as she brushed past him, saying the words he never thought he would hear from _her._  Turning around, he quickly walked over to Rose, reaching out towards her, only to have his hand batted away.

"No... No, please, you don't mean that Rosie...  _You don't mean that, please._ " Tate begged, falling to his knees beside her.

In turn, Rosaline looked down at him, one hand on her stomach as she stared into his glistening eyes, her own brimming with tears.

"You shouldn't have done something like this without  _telling_  me. Now  _go away_." Tate sniffled and nodded softly, then disappeared.

Rosaline curled up on her bed on her side, teeth gritted as she held onto her stomach, begging herself not to cry as she thought about the fact that Tate had kept something from her. She wasn't even angry that he was going to rape her mother again, just that she hadn't been told to prepare herself beforehand.


	9. episode nine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one will be very short, but not too much happened in it. Please remember that the timeline is screwy and I can't begin to fix it at this point. Mainly because I'm lazy and it seems as though it would take some extensive thought and time on my end.<3

It took a few weeks for the reality that their mother been sent away to an asylum to sink in, but when it did, Rosaline was disgusted with Ben. She was even more disgusted with herself, knowing that it was partially her own fault for convincing Violet to lie about the ghosts in the car, thus furthering the point to which Ben thought Vivien was crazy. Rosaline grew more hormonal with each passing day, or so it seemed to Ben and Violet.

In reality, Rose felt like  _she_  was going crazy. Not because of some man in a rubber suit, or the ghost of her husband's affair like her mother. No, her craziness was being caused by a dirty blonde haired boy that wore cardigans and only wanted to see her. By the time Constance was knocking on her bedroom door, Rosaline hadn't spoken to Tate in one month, one week, and three days. Not that she had been counting.

The fist pounding on the wooden door of her bedroom seemed to mimic the pounding going on in her head, and for Rosaline, currently, that was unacceptable. Standing up from where she had been laying down, reading, she stormed over to the bedroom door and flung it open, a grimace on her face.

" _What_  could you possibly  _want_?" She asked lowly, glaring up at the older woman, who appeared to be distraught with emotion.

"Did you know?" Constance asked, her voice breaking with emotion.

"Know what, Constance? Clarify, quickly." Rosaline ordered, putting one hand to her temple.

"Did you  _know_  that one of those  _babies_  inside  _your mother_  is  _my sons_?!" Constance cried out, covering her face with her hands, causing a sigh to escape Rose.

"Yes." Rose said simply, then took a step back and swung the door closed, only for it to be stopped by Constance's hand flying out, her palm smacking against the wood.

" _You knew_?" Constance asked, a look of disbelief on her face. "This entire time?"

"Yes, Constance, I've known the entire time. And if you think you're getting your hands on either one of these babies, I'll tell you right now that you're sorely mistaken." Rose said, about to continue when the voice of Tate cut through their conversation.

" _What are you doing up here_?"

Turning around, Constance looked at her son with a disappointed expression, then glanced back Rosaline before looking to her stomach, then left the house.

"Rosaline..." Tate started, only to stop when he saw Rose looking the opposite direction from him. His eyes filled with tears again.

"Come on." She whispered, then turned and walked into her bedroom, not bothering to close the door behind her.

Once inside the room, she immediately sat on the edge of the bed, only looking up when she heard Tate's hesitant footsteps stop a few feet away from her.

"Rose, I am  _so_   _sorry_. I never meant to... I never meant to lie to you, I just didn't wanna stress you anymore, and I'm sorry. I should have told you. Please,  _I love you_." Tate said, his voice cracking a few times with the emotion his words held.

Looking up at Tate, Rose bit her lip. "It's okay. Come here." She said, motioning for him to join her on the bed as she scooted back and leaned against the headboard. The tears glistening in his eyes didn't subside as he climbed onto the bed.

The two of them hesitated in their movements to touch, but once they were side by side, in each other's arms, the hesitation left them. They practically melted into each other as they became wrapped up in each other's scent, the feel of each other's clothes and skin brushing against them. For the rest of the night, that was all they did. And for the following weeks, when Rose wasn't eating her weight in food, being checked on by Ben, or casting Hayden away, that was what they did. Just enjoying each other's presence.


	10. episode ten.

Tate appeared in Rosaline's room with a worried expression on his face, confusing Rose.

"What is it?" She asked, moving to sit up until he stopped her, walking over to sit on the edge of the bed and place a hand on her large stomach.

"Rosie, your dad and Violet were talking earlier, and he made her promise to go to school tomorrow.  _She can't leave the house, Rosie._ " Tate said, earning a concerned expression from Rose.

"Shit. We have to stop her. Tomorrow morning, when she's getting ready to leave, do something to make her stay. Make up something with the baby if you have to." Rosaline said, glancing nervously around her bedroom.

Nodding, Tate rubbed soothing circles on her stomach, then leaned over and pecked her lips. "I'll think of something." He said softly, smiling at her.

* * *

 

The next morning, Tate came up with a plan. He appeared just off to the side of the main staircase, waiting impatiently for Violet to come down. Once she did, he quickly reached out, covered her mouth with one hand, and pulled her backwards, shushing her.

"Shh. Shh. Don't be mad. Come spend the day with us. Rosie isn't feeling too great right now, and I think she wants to spend some more time with you before the baby comes." He explains, looking into Violet's eyes. There was a waver there, and that was all he needed. "She's upstairs, right now. She said she wanted to go read to Beau in the attic so she didn't have to go up and down all of the stairs. I was going to get her something to eat." He whispered, a small smile coming to his face when Violet nodded and walked passed him, heading back upstairs.

Upstairs, Rosaline was walking around her bedroom, picking up children's books she hadn't read to Beau yet, some a bit more than picture books, things like short stories, and even a small book she thought he might like. When the bedroom door opened, and she glanced in the mirror and saw Violet, Rose turned around with a bright smile and walked over to her sister, hugging her tightly. Tears were prickling in her eyes, and she saw Tate standing in the doorway, watching them with a sad expression before both of them felt a shift in the house. Someone unwelcome was searching for something. Tate nodded to Rose, then motioned up to the attic before disappearing.

"I'm sorry, I know you were going to start going back to school soon, but I just, I'm not feeling too great today, and I find myself wanting a bit more girl time. I know mom's supposed to be coming home soon, or at least, she's supposed to be let out soon, I doubt she'll want to come back to this house, but I wanna spend some time with you before we're all awake  _all_  the time." She said with a chuckle, earning a smile from Violet.

"It's fine. I can just go tomorrow, Dad'll understand you're not feeling good." Violet said, then walked out into the hallway and pulled the attic door down.

Once the two girls were upstairs in the attic, Beau appeared, excited to see the two girls. Violet was surprised at first by his enthusiasm, but smiled a bit and began to look around. A few minutes later, Violet discovered a chess set and pulled it out, setting it up on a few stacked boxes next to Beau's bed, where Rosaline was sitting and reading to Beauregard.

"Do you wanna play a round until Tate gets here?" Violet asked, looking at her sister, who turned her attention to the chess board and smiled.

"Sure. Watch, Beau, I'll teach you a little bit about this game. Maybe one day we can play this kind of game together." Rose said, smiling at the deformed boy, who bounced on the bed in happiness and yelled, " _Play!_ "

About five minutes later, Rosaline and Violet were playing chess, Rose appeared to be losing, and she was explaining about the way the pieces moved to the boy. It was then that Tate emerged up from the stairs with an upset appearance.

"Where've you been? You said you were going to make a sandwich for Rose." Violet asked, looking over at Tate.

Rosaline, however, narrowed her eyes at his appearance. He seemed genuinely concerned about something.

"He wants to separate us." Tate started, making Rose clench her jaw. "He's gonna send you away, Violet."

"What are you talking about?" Violet asked, concern filling her eyes.

"I just heard him talking on the phone with a boarding school, askin' 'bout financial packages." Tate explains, taking a step toward the group as Violet softly gasped, looking away.

"Makes sense. He sent Mom away." Violet said, looking at Rose. "I don't know why I thought I was safe. I just assumed I was his little girl. What a  _fantasy_." Violet said, tears gathering in her eyes as her sister reached out and pulled her into her arms, holding her sister close. "I'm so  _stupid_  and naive sometimes. Of course he's gonna send me away too."

"Shh, shh. There's nothing stupid about you, Violet." Rose whispered, stroking her sister's hair.

"And I won't let him send you away." Tate said, walking over and reaching out, placing hand on Violet's shoulder.

Looking over Violet's head at Rosaline, their eyes met and she nodded at him as she continued consoling her sister.

"Come on, let's just stay up here for a little while longer. We won't let our father keep us from enjoying this time together. And I'm sure  _someone_  was looking forward to hearing some new stories." Rose said, smiling softly as she looked over at Beau, who had been sitting silently and watching them before being looked at.

Once Beauregard realized they were staying, he jumped excitedly again and clapped his hands.

" _Stories! Stories!_ " The boy cried out, smiling happily as Rose picked up a new book and sat back on the bed, getting comfortable with Violet curled up by her side.

* * *

 

They sat in the attic for a while, reading to Beau and playing with him while Tate went and donned the rubber suit, this time  _with_  Rose's knowledge. A little while later, the sound of a struggle downstairs, along with their father screaming their names is all that pulled them out of their little reverie.

Sitting up, Violet had a concerned look on her face. Quickly standing up, she helped her sister up to her feet and then went to the staircase, and walked out into the hallway, stopping when she came face to face with Tate.

"What did you do to him?" Violet asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I just convinced him to leave us alone for an hour or so." Tate said, slightly out of breath as he slowly walked past her to head up to the attic.

"Tate, what did you  _do_  to him?!" Violet asked again, turning around to look at him.

"I didn't do anything bad!" Tate yelled, stopping and turning around to face Violet. "Just scared him a little. He'll be fine. But we're running out of time." He said briefly, confusing Violet even more.

"You're being weird. Time for what?" Violet asked.

Tate glanced around the hallway, then up at the attic before pulling Violet into her bedroom, quietly closing the door behind them.

"I figured out how to keep them from sending you away." Tate said, looking into her eyes.

"You mean, run away?"

"Kind of. Yeah. I love you two, Violet, and I want you to be happy and free." He explained, then pulled out a prescription pill bottle from her father's samples, enclosed in a plastic baggie. The pills in the bottle made a small sound as they moved within the bottle. "If we take these, we can stay here. We can play with Beauregard. We can play games, watch videos. We can all be together  _forever_."

"You want us to commit  _suicide_? Tate, my sister is  _pregnant, and it's your baby._ " Violet said, looking from the bottle up into his eyes with disbelief.

"I know, but Ben won't send her away. He's going to take care of her until she has the child, to make up for Vivien. And if he  _does_  try to send her away, then she could run away and stay with  _Constance_ , who is so determined to make sure the baby is safe that she would probably do  _anything_  to make sure it is. And after she has the baby, then she can join us."

"But what about the  _baby,_ Tate?" Violet whispered incredulously.

"We can take care of it here. All of us would be here, and we could all help raise it. If it ever needed anything, then I'm sure Constance would be  _more_  than willing to get it, to make sure her grandchild is okay. I hate the old bitch, but she would have her uses." Tate explained frantically, watching Violet's expression changing.

"...Where did you get those pills?" Violet asked him, looking between him and the pills.

"You dad has a lot of samples."

"Did you hurt my dad?" Violet asked quickly.

" _No, I told you!_ I just knocked him out so I could buy us some time.  _Listen to me, Violet._ We can;t get all chickenshit about this!  _We're running out of options!_ " Tate yelled, walking around in an agitated circle around Violet before coming to a stop in front of her.

Vi looked nervous and there were tears gathering in her worried eyes as she briefly nodded.

"Yeah. Okay, I get it. It's the only way we can all stay together." Violet rationalized falsely, hoping that Tate didn't see through her ruse.

" _Exactly_. I know how to do it so that it won't hurt." Tate said, looking down at the pills and razor blades in his hands.

"Can we do it in the bathtub?" Violet asked softly, looking up at him.

An image of Rosaline holding her sister to her chest, crying as cold water poured down over them flashed through his mind and he swallowed hard.

"Why?"

"'Cause it's warm and nice, and I can light some candles." Violet quickly said, hoping he would agree as he hesitated, then nodded.

"Okay. But we have to go now." He said.

"I'll... I'll go run the bath." Violet said, then walked past him, out of the bedroom.

Once she was in the hallway, she ran to the opening to the attic and quietly called for Rosaline. When she didn't get a reply she quickly ran to Rose's bedroom, but didn't see her sister anywhere. And so, she resorted to the only option she had left. She began screaming for help.

"Help! Dad, help me! He's trying to kill me! Help!" She yelled, running down the hallway to the staircase.

Hearing this, a lot of thoughts ran through Tate's head at that moment. The main one being that Rosaline was going to be upset with him that this was how her sister found out she was already dead.

"Violet, no!" He yelled out, running out of the bedroom and down the hallway after her.

"Help! Dad!" Violet yelled, running down the stairs before reaching the first floor and stopping, circling around looking for their father. "Dad?!"

A split second later, Tate appeared, running down the staircase after her. Violet then turned and bolted toward the front door, running outside to the gate, where she saw two people walking their dog. Yelling for help, she tugged on the gate as the dog barked but the people kept walking, as though they didn't even notice her. Once the gate opened, she ran out to the sidewalk and kept running, only stopping when she realized she had just come through the backdoor, and was now standing in the kitchen of the house.

Tate and Rosaline were both there, Tate had his hands up in a sign of surrendering, watching her as if she were a wild animal, while Rose had tears in her eyes as she looked at her sister.

"What's happening? What did you do to me?" Violet asked Tate, her eyes watering as she stumbled around the island toward her sister, away from Tate, who was circling around to get closer to her.

"You have to stop. Let's just do what we said we would." Tate said, looking at Violet with a pleading look in his eyes.

"Dad, where are you?! Help me!" Violet screamed, turning and running away from both her sister and Tate.

"Violet! Stop running!" Tate yelled from the doorway of the kitchen.

"What did you do, Tate?" Rosaline asked him from behind the island.

Turning to her with tears in his eyes, he shook his head and quickly made his way over to her.

"No no no, I was trying to get her to take some pills to stay, to die in the house and come back as a ghost so she didn't know about before. Like we talked about." He explained quickly, seeing the anger filling Rose's eyes.

" _We_  talked about doing it together.  _WE_  were going to do it  _together_. Now we have to show her, Tate. She won't believe it or understand unless we  _show her_." Rosaline said, pushing past the boy to head to the staircase, where she knew Violet would end up running by to get to the front door.

* * *

 

After getting Violet to somewhat calm down and convince her that they weren't going to hurt her, they moved to go into the crawl space beneath the house, telling her that afterwards she would be free to go wherever she wanted, with or without them.

Getting into the crawlspace was difficult for Rosaline, and once they were in it she immediately felt as though her stomach was larger than ever.

A little ways into the crawlspace, the silence was sliced through with the shrill scream of Violet, as she saw the remains of a dead rat in a trap on the ground, then said that it was disgusting down there.

Just a few feet farther into the crawlspace and the three of them dropped a little ways down and were able to stand up, and Tate glanced at Rosaline, who was watching her sister with watery eyes, knowing what was to come.

"Close your eyes." Rose whispered to Violet, who glanced around the dusty, rank smelling area. "And remember, everything's gonna be okay. I love you." She said quietly, brushing a few strands of hair away from her older sister's face.

Violet nodded hesitantly and closed her eyes, allowing her sister to take her by the hand and lead her forward. The smell was stronger, and as Tate shined the flashlight down at the body in the crawlspace, Rose felt more tears burning her eyes before falling over the brim.

"Open your eyes." Tate whispered, holding the flashlight steady.

Violet looked down and let out a sob as she realized immediately what she was looking at. Crying, she brushed the hair out of her face and continued to look at it in horror.

"What? No!" She cried out, voice cracking with emotion. She thought back to when it could have been, and only remembered being held in the bathtub by her sister, crying in her arms after throwing up the sleeping pills she had taken.

Her crying had ceased, and she came to a realization. "I died when I took all those pills." She said quietly, more to herself than anything else.

Rose nodded quietly.

"We tried to save you. We carried you into the bathroom." Tate said quietly, tears in his eyes.

"I tried to make you throw them up. You threw up some, but not enough." Rosaline explained, tears running down her cheeks as her sister started crying again. "You took so many, Violet... You died crying. I held you. You were safe. You died loved." Rose said, sniffling.

"I hardly feel anything." Violet said, stepping backwards before turning around and looking away from the two of them.

Rosaline and Tate turned toward her and Rose stepped forward, giving her sister a pleading look. "I didn't want you to find out this way, Violet. Neither of us did. You or our parents." Rose said, reaching out to her sister before letting her hand fall to her side, looking down at the ground as new tears formed in her eyes and spilled over.

" _I_  had this idea that if you  _chose_  to die, with me, you wouldn't be so sad." Tate explained, stepping forward as well. "We never wanted you to see this." Tate said, his voice wavering as he held back tears.

"I'm so sorry Violet." Rose whispered, slowly stepping toward her sister. The two girls gravitated toward each other, and Violet accepted the embrace that her younger sister offered willingly, crying into her shoulder and soaking her shirt.

* * *

 

Roughly an hour later, the three were back upstairs inside Rose's bedroom, better for the most part. Instead of watery eyes, there were now understanding gazes, and they were happy for the most part. Ben was still passed out wherever Tate had left him, so they were still living in momentary peace, but they all knew it wouldn't last for too much longer.

Tate had warned Rose that their father had pulled off the mask, but that he wasn't positive that the man would remember his face being that he had been on the cusp of passing out. Rosaline had understood, and said that she would play stupid, insisting that Tate would never do something like whatever Ben accused Tate of to Rose. However, neither of them were sure Ben would bring it up to Rose, due to possibly not wanting to add any additional  _stress_  to right now her.

Right now, however, Tate and Rose were sitting on the floor across from each other while Violet stood over by the window, and Tate was shuffling a deck of cards in his hands.

"So, all this time, I thought I was protecting you. But you guys were protecting me." Violet said, looking over at the two of them.

"That's all we ever wanted to do, since it first happened." Rose said quietly.

"So why'd you keep it a secret?" Violet asked, walking over and sitting down, creating a half-circle out of the three of them.

Tate smirked halfheartedly in return. "Hi. I'm Tate. I'm dead. Wanna hang out?" Tate asked sarcastically, earning a chuckle from both Violet and Rose. "I don't think so."

"... I still don't remember dying." Violet said after a short pause, making Rose swallow harshly. "Do you?" She asked, looking over at Tate.

"Nope." Tate responded, not wanting to say that he remembered everything.

"What happens now?" Violet asked, looking between the two of them.

Tate had begun dealing out the cards, and smiled.

"You draw a card, and then discard." He said, earning a small huff of a laugh from Violet.

"No, I mean, like, how's it going to be?"

Tate shrugged. "Just like this. Like it's always been... It's gonna be the three of us-" Tate started, only to get cut off by Rose clearing her throat.

Turning his head to the girl, he glanced at her stomach and then grinned that big, teeth-showing grin that made him look like a little boy, a light shining in his eyes as he placed his hand on her stomach.

"It's gonna be the four of us. Together for always." He corrected himself, looking up into Rose's eyes before looking over at Violet.

Violet couldn't help but smile a little at the thought of them all being together forever. But it was at this moment that she knew he was serious about Rosaline killing herself after having the baby, and raising it in this house, and she wasn't quite sure of how to feel about this.

Regardless, Violet smiled at the happy couple, and then they picked up their hands and proceeded to play, Tate trying to sneak peeks at their cards like a happy little child.


	11. episode eleven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, hi there. I just started this episode and realized that Ben says Vivien's been in there for weeks. Doesn't give a specific number, but there are only four weeks in a month, and as previously stated, could have been a few months. That's what the wikia page on Vivien Harmon said, at least. I don't know, but I've informed you all before that the timeline is screwy, and I just... I'm a lazy shit, alright? I'm sorry if it bothers you, once I noticed this, it bothered me too, and now I just don't know. But I'm lazy. Hope you can overlook this timeline error and still enjoy the story.<3

Ben was dragging Rosaline and Violet down the staircase, who were both struggling. Mainly because Violet couldn't leave, but  _Rosaline_  still could. They were both trying to plead the same case. They didn't feel well, Rosaline needed to lay down. Violet was saying it wasn't good for Rosaline to leave in such a state, and Ben wasn't having any of it.

"Dad, I'm not a dog. I told you, I don't feel well. Just leave me here." Rosaline pleaded, tugging at Ben's grip on her arm.

"I don't trust either of you anymore. And I don't trust  _Tate_." Ben said, not stopping as he pulled the two girls down the stairwell.

" _Tate_? We haven't seen him in weeks!" Violet cried out, trying to tug her arm away.

"No more, girls! Your mom's coming home, and you two are coming with me to get her." Ben said in a strict tone, tugging the out through the front door.

"Dad, please, I don't feel well." Violet begged, looking over at her sister.

Rosaline's eyes were wide and she had tears gathering in them as their father pulled them across the front yard to the car.

"Violet." She started, her voice wavering. "Violet, Violet!" She yelled, both of them knowing what was coming. Violet wasn't going to make it off of the property, and Rosaline hadn't left the house in so long that none of them knew what would happen if she did. She had never gotten the terrible morning sickness or the spotting that Vivien had when she left, but she was still nervous because she knew the child would end up being tied to the house in some form.

"Rose, Rosie, it's going to be okay, I promise. I promise, it'll be okay." Violet said quickly, both of them now crying.

"Both of you can lay down in the car. And when we get home, pack up your things. We're leaving this house for good." Ben stated firmly.

" _What_?" Both of the girls asked, looking at each other.

"You guys are back together?" Violet asked incredulously.

"I don't know yet. Your mom wants to go to Aunt Jo's so both of you can give birth there, and I'm supporting it." Ben stated, releasing their arms once they were at the car.

"No, you don't wanna do this." Rose pleaded, looking at their father with puffy eyes.

" _Girls_ , your mother's been locked up in a psych ward for  _weeks._  I won't let her stay there for another minute. Now are you two gonna get in the car, or do I have to make you?" Ben asked harshly, to which both of his children crossed their arms over their chest. "My god, what is  _wrong_  with you two?  _Get in the car_. Your mother wants to see you!" Ben yelled, grabbing Rose's upper arm and pulling toward the car.

Rosaline screamed and Violet lunged forward, pulling his hand away from her roughly, pushing their father back.

"What is wrong with  _you_!? That's your  _pregnant daughter_ , you're forcing into the car,  _shithead_!" Violet yelled, making Ben take a step back and look at Rosaline as she refused to look at him and climbed into the backseat of the car, followed by Violet, who slammed the door shut. Ben then got into the driver's seat and closed the door as Rosaline buckled her seat belt and looked at her sister, grabbing her hand.

"I'm gonna throw up!" Violet cried out, watching as their father silently dug his car keys out of his pocket and started the car. "Fine. I'll lay down." Violet said more quietly, laying down on her side, resting her head on her sister's lap, who just stroked her hair gently.

"Tell him I'm sorry, and if anything happens, I love him." Rosaline whispered into her sister's ear, just before she disappeared. Once she was gone, Rose closed her eyes and sniffled quietly, attempting to hold back her tears for the rest of the car ride.

* * *

 

Pausing outside of room where Vivien was being kept, Rose continued to ignore the questioning glances, as well as Ben's outright question as to when Violet had gotten out of the car. Her moment of hesitation had to come  to an end, however, and Rose was pushed gently into the room by her father.

Once they were inside the room, Vivien stood up and looked at Rosaline with teary eyes, both of them taking in each other's appearances. They had both seemed to change so much over the time they had been separated. They had both...  _grown_. Vivien walked over to her daughter and pulled her into an awkward little semi-sideways hug, to allow them to be as close to each other as she wanted, without their stomachs getting in the way.

"Why didn't Violet come?" Vivien asked, to which both Rose and Ben sighed.

"Violet's been having a very rough time." Ben answered.

"She didn't come visit me once, Ben. Rose, I can understand, but Violet isn't pregnant. Oh god, she isn't pregnant, is she?" Vivien quickly asked, looking at her daughter who just laughed.

"No, mom, she's  not pregnant. That is still very much just the two of us." Rose said with a light tone, hoping to keep everything as upbeat as she dared.

It was then that the doctor entered the room , causing Rosaline to move over to the side of the bed, next to where her mother was standing, to help her fold her few belongings. As the doctor began talking about the rapid development of one of Vivien's babies, Rose put a hand to her own stomach subconsciously, thinking about her own baby. It would make perfect sense as to why both she and her mother had been developing so quickly, and as disgusting as it was to think that their babies, well,  _one_  of Vivien's babies, had been fathered by the same man, Rosaline couldn't help but start thinking about it  _excessively._

In twenty-four hours they would be in Florida, but Rosaline couldn't let that happen. She and Violet  _had_  to stay at that house, or at the very  _least_ Rosaline had to stay at Constance's house. She couldn't leave, and neither could Violet, both for different reasons, and Rose knew that their parents weren't going to leave as long as they were staying behind. Their parents wouldn't  _let_  them stay behind.

These thoughts were circulating in her head all the way out to the car, to the point that she got dizzy while sitting down.

* * *

 

Once back on the property, the dizziness faded away and Rosaline immediately unbuckled her seat belt and opened the car door, ignoring her mother's calls as she headed to the front door. It was unlocked, and she went inside, calling out for Violet and Tate as she made her way over to the staircase.

The house was thrumming with  _life_. It felt so  _excited_  and  _active_  as she walked up the stairs, the banister underneath her hand was practically  _vibrating_  with it. The dizziness that had faded was now being replaced with the pounding that always took place when the house was excited like this. When something was going to  _happen_.

"Violet! Tate!" She yelled, not noticing when they both appeared by her side, worried as they wrapped her arms over their shoulders and supported her weight.

" _Shh, shh_. I'm right here, baby, we're right here." Tate whispered, watching as she gritted her teeth in pain and clenched her fists.

They quickly walked into Rose's bedroom and helped her up onto the bed, Tate looking worriedly as Rose grabbed his hand and looked at him with worried eyes.

"Tate, the house, it's... Something's not right." She said breathlessly, and Tate nodded, swallowing harshly.

"We're, we're trying to get rid of the queers, they were gonna take your mom's babies, both of them. But I won't let anything happen to you, okay? I'll always be here to protect you. I'll keep both of you safe." Tate said, rubbing one hand gently over her stomach.

It was then that they heard Ben banging on Violet's bedroom door, and Violet looked over at her sister with a worried expression. Rosaline just nodded quickly before laying her head back on the pillow. Coming to a quick decision, she unwrapped her hand from Tate's and reached down with both of her hands, tugging the leggings she had been wearing down as far as she could before looking at Tate.

"Help me, I think the babies are coming. Not just mine." She quickly whispered, earning a wide-eyed look from Tate, who hesitate for a second before nodding briefly and reaching down, tugging the leggings the rest of the way off.

A few seconds later the screams of Vivien were heard down below, entering the house. Rose looked toward the door and shook her head, moving her legs to get off the bed until Tate stopped her, looking at her like she was crazy.

"Rosie, you can't move right now, if the baby is coming, you can't go all the way downstairs." He said, looking at her with pleading eyes.

"Tate, she can't be in here. She can't have that baby in here. She's going to  _die_ , Tate. She's going to be trapped in this house. She  _can't_  be trapped in this house!" Rose exclaimed, grabbing Tate's hand again and tightening her grip as pain erupted from her stomach.

"It's, it's gonna be okay, Rosie. I'm gonna make it all okay." Tate said, and a moment later, just as another wave of pain shook Rosaline to her very core, making her scream out, the power in the house went out, leaving them in near-complete darkness.

It seemed like it was just Tate and Rosaline in the room, alone, her screams mixing with the sounds of Vivien's. Their child wasn't  _even_ six months old, and yet it was nearly fully developed, just barely on the small side, as one of the nurses that had been murdered in the house helped her to deliver the child.

Everything was a daze of pain and screaming, mixed with the loving voice of Tate, and the soothing voice of  _Maria._  And then there was nothing. She was still in pain, yes, but it was dulled significantly, and there was a crying that erupted throughout the room. Rosaline wasn't even sure of how long she had been in labor, how much time had passed since she had entered the house earlier that day, if it even was the same day, but it was dark outside now. Rosaline was covered in sweat, and tears stained her face, but as soon as she opened her eyes and looked around the room, that had been lit by several flashlights pointed up towards the ceiling, she felt complete.

Tate was standing next to her, holding their little baby in his arms, looking down at it with tears in his eyes. Looking at Rosaline, he gave her a watery smile before bending down and placing the baby on her chest.

"It's a boy." He whispered to her, leaning forward to pepper the side of her sweat-slicked face with kisses.

"And we haven't even thought of any names..." Rosaline said tiredly, lifting her arms up and supporting the baby, looking down at the little thing. It had stopped crying, and it was breathing, and it was so damn ugly, but so beautiful at the same time.

There was still screaming going on downstairs, so Rosaline assumed Vivien was still in the midst of her labor, but in her bedroom, at that moment, it was the most at peace she had ever felt.

Good things, however, never last. Perhaps they aren't meant to, but in this moment, all Rosaline wanted was this good thing to last. When the screaming downstairs stopped, and Violet appeared at the end of the bed, then looked at the baby resting on her sister's chest, then moved her eyes over to Tate and left them there, Rosaline knew something was wrong. When Maria stepped forward and took the baby off of her, saying quietly that she was going to go and clean it up, everyone in that room knew something was wrong.

Violet's glassy eyes turned to Rosaline for a moment before moving back to Tate.

"Our mom's dead." She said quietly.

Rose inhaled sharply, her mind still a bit fuzzy from all of the pain, but hearing these words brought her consciousness to the forefront of her mind.

"What?" Rose whispered, only to go unheard by both Tate and Violet.

"I'm so sorry. I know you both were close to her." Tate said quietly, reaching over to grab one of Violet's hands, not moving from his spot next to Rosaline, only for Violet to pull her hand back.

"Yeah." Violet said. "We were. My dad's down there all alone now."

"That makes me sad. I like your dad." Tate said, standing up from his crouched position next to Rosaline. "He was nice to me."

"He's nice to all his patients." Violet's voice was plain, her eyes unwavering as she stared at Tate, arms crossed over her chest. "Even the ones who lie to him."

"What?" Tate asked quickly, trying to figure out what Violet was talking about.

"Why did you start seeing him in the first place? Constance thought you needed help."

"I did. I do."

"You knew you were dead." It was a statement, and Tate hesitated, licking his lips before answering.

"Yeah."

"Do you know why?" Violet asked, her voice beginning to gain an edge.

"Stop it, Violet." Rosaline said quietly.

"The cops shot me. Right here in this room." He said, looking around the bedroom.

"Why? Why did they shoot you?" Violet questioned, agitating Rosaline.

"Violet, stop!" She yelled weakly.

"I don't know." Tate replied, both of them ignoring Rosaline.

" _You murdered people, Tate. Kids. Like us._ " Violet said, her eyes slowly filling with tears. "The kids that came to the house on Halloween."

Tate's eyes lost their glaze as he watched Violet, not saying anything else.

"Why did you murder those guys who lived here before us? Why would you _rape my mother_?" Violet interrogated, more tears filling her eyes.

"Violet, it's over. Stop it." Rosaline said sternly, sitting up from the bed, wincing at the pain she felt numbly in her lower abdomen.

"I used to think you were like me. You were  _attracted_  to the darkness. But, Tate,  _you are the darkness_."

"Violet, please, don't make me do this. You have to stop." Rosaline pleaded with her sister.

"Don't you understand? He  _murdered_  our mother. Whatever that  _thing_  inside of her was, it killed her. He has to pay for what he's done." Violet said, taking a step toward her sister.

"I'm sorry, Violet. I'm so sorry." Rosaline said. "Go away." She whispered, looking up at her sister, who froze, staring back at her with wide, watery eyes. "If you won't stop this now, then I will. For a while at least. I'm sorry. You can come and see the baby when Tate isn't here. But for now, I need you to  _go away_." She explained, watching as her sister cast a look toward Tate, then disappeared.

Hanging her head before laying back on the bed, Rosaline took a deep breath, feeling the weight of Tate's body shifting on the bed beside her. He had climbed on it and decided to cuddle up with her, holding her gently, but close to his body as she began to quietly cry.

"Hey, hey, it's gonna be alright. It's all gonna be okay. She may never forgive me for what I did, but I think that as long as she can see you, she'll be okay. Besides, your mom is here now too, so she won't ever be alone." Tate reasoned in a soft voice as he stroked Rose's hair and pressed kisses against her forehead.

It wasn't until the sound of footsteps pounding up the staircase sounded throughout the house did they separate. They both knew that Tate couldn't be seen by Ben, and so, the gave her one kiss before disappearing to go help Maria with their baby boy.

The bedroom door suddenly burst open and Ben, who looked like he had already been crying his eyes out, settled his gaze on his daughter. Seeing her in the disheveled state she was in, new tears sprang into his eyes and he ran over to her, collapsing to his knees beside her bed.

"Oh, baby, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. What happened, where's the baby, did it make it? Are you okay? Oh sweetheart, I'm sorry." Ben rambled on, not giving Rosaline a chance to speak until she reached over and put her hand to his face.

"I'm fine. Maria, one of the nurses, helped me. He's fine. She's cleaning him up." Rosaline explained quietly, earning a teary but relieved smile from her father.

" _He_? You had a son? I have a grandson? Oh man, that's gonna take some getting used to... Your mom... She's dead, Rosie. The first boy was stillborn, and the second boy... It killed her. The doctor couldn't stop the bleeding." Ben explained, crying all over again as he took hold of his daughter's hand and held it.

"Shh, I know. Violet came up and told me. But you're gonna take care of him, because you love Vivien." Rose said, looking at her father, who nodded.

After a few more minutes had passed, Maria walked in with a little bundle in her arms. Ben helped his daughter sit up on her bed, and Maria handed the little baby boy to Rosaline, who looked down at him with a soft smile.

"Look at you, my little boy." Rose whispered, uncovering his little hands and holding out her fingers. The little baby reached out almost immediately and grabbed one of her fingers, his little hand gripping strong to her. "I bet you're hungry, aren't you?" Rose asked quietly, and Ben smiled at the two of them before standing up and leaving the room.

As she began feeding her baby, Tate appeared before her and sat on the edge of the bed, watching silently for a moment as he reached out and gently stroked the back of his baby's head.

"What are we gonna name him?" Tate asked softly, looking up at Rose.

"I don't know. I was thinking, maybe Eli." Rosaline told him, earning a little smile from the boy.

"I like Eli. Eli Langdon." Tate stated quietly, looking back at the baby that was still nursing.

"Yeah. Me too." She replied, looking down at their baby.

They didn't know it at the time, but both Vivien and Violet were watching, both happy and also sad. Rosaline was so accepting of his nature, it was upsetting, but she was in love. They both were, and both ghosts knew there was nothing they could do, or really would even  _want_  to do to separate them.

 _Time_ would do it soon enough, that they were sure of.


	12. episode twelve.

Three months had passed since the death of Vivien, and the birth of Eli and Michael. Three months of Ben being a devastated mess, and Tate having to hide more often than he had before. And while Ben was out of the house, getting Vivien's baby from Constance's, Rosaline carried little baby Eli into the kitchen, where her mother and Moira were gathered around the island.

"He'll be back in a few minutes. I just thought I would come and see how you girls are doing, let  _grandma_  hold little Eli for a little while." Rose teased Vivien, smiling as she handed her baby to her mother, who scoffed at the term but smiled at the baby.

"You  _know_  I hate that title." Vivien said, rolling her eyes as her daughter walked over to the counter and picked up a banana, something quick that she could eat.

"I know, but I mean, you  _are_  a grandmother now. Why aren't you showing yourself to Dad, by the way? You're always... _Hovering_." Rose said, peeling the banana and taking a bite out of it.

"I am not  _hovering_." Vivien defended, causing Moira to chuckle into her cup of tea.

"You're hovering, dear." Moira said quietly, looking at Vivien and the baby.

"Okay, maybe I am, but, I just... I can't help it. I know you don't approve, Moira." Vivien said, then the group of girls heard the front door open, and Rose quickly came over, tossing the banana onto the counter before taking Eli back into her arms.

Soon enough, Ben entered the kitchen, carrying Michael in the car seat before setting it on the counter as he grabs a bottle of formula and glances over at his daughter.

"Who were you talking to?" Ben asks his daughter quietly, walking toward the microwave with the bottle. Rosaline hears Vivien and sees the two ghosts, but knows that her father doesn't, and that her mother doesn't want him to see her.

"Maria. The nurse that helped me deliver Eli." Rose covered, watching as her father turned from the microwave to make his way over to the sink.

It wasn't long before Rose took the silence that Ben responded with as he began feeding Michael to heart, and quietly left the kitchen, casting a single glance back at the women still standing there before heading upstairs to her bedroom. Once there, in the comfort of the place she had spent so much time in, Tate appeared, and he smiled at the two of them before walking over and taking Eli into his arms, looking down at his son.

"Hey there, ya little munchkin. How ya doin' today, huh? You bein' good for mommy? Yeah, I know you are." Tate said, talking to his son as he carried him back and forth in the room, bouncing him gently to help him go to sleep. "You gotta be a good boy and get some rest. We don't want you to be a cranky boy, now, do we mommy?" Tate asked softly as he looked over at Rose, who was smiling at the scene before her.

"No, we certainly don't." She said, walking over and pressing a kiss to Tate's lips before looking down at Eli, who seemed to be nodding off as he watched his parents silently, his little hand movements slowing down before stopping as he drifted to sleep.

"There we go." Tate whispered, putting Eli gently down into the crib that sat next to the bed.

"Tate. It's the last day." Rose whispered, her eyes filling with tears. Tate looked back at her, tears filling his own eyes as he nodded.

"I know." He said quietly. "But I know that I'll see you again... I  _will_." Tate said with a quiet determination in his voice, walking over to Rosaline and grabbing hold of her, hugging her against his body tightly.

The two of them stood like that for a while before they sat on the edge of the bed and just cuddled up next to each other, spending their remaining time enjoying each other's presence.

When the sound of Ben's voice calling out to her through the door came, Rosaline looked at Tate and kissed him, then called back that she would be ready soon. She quickly put the diaper bag over her shoulder before gently picking up Eli and placing him into his own car seat. Once that was done, she heard a struggle happening down the hall and quickly opened the door, walking down just in time to see father hanging from the chandelier, struggling for a moment before stopping as he spun around, choking for air, the sound of Michael's cries cutting through the air.

Looking away from her father's body, Rosaline settled her gaze on the two home invaders and  _Hayden_ , gritting her teeth.

"What have you **done**!? You stupid, selfish fucking  _BITCH!!_ " Rosaline yelled, thus waking up Eli, who also began crying.

"Wow, some  _mother_  you are, waking the sleeping baby." Hayden taunted, smirking as she looked at the younger girl.

" _Go away, Hayden._ " Rosaline said sternly, clenching her jaw.

"Oh,  _please_. You really think that shit's gonna work on me? Handle her too, just toss her off. I'll take care of  _both_  the babies." Hayden instructed the home intruders, who smirked and turned to Rosaline.

Turning her gaze on the two intruders, she set down Eli, the motioned for the man to come over. It was then that Tate appeared behind her and slipped something into her hand, staring darkly at the group before them.

"Oh, I remember you, you little bitch." The man said, the ran toward her, only for Rose to slam a cast iron candle holder across his face the moment he got close enough to her.

"Yeah, I remember you too. I'm the that  _bashed you over the skull_  with that cheap replica." Rosaline said, smirking as the ghost landed with a satisfying  _thud_  against the floor.

At the insinuation that what she had bought and had  _authenticated_  was cheap and fake, the brunette snarled and ran forward herself, not falling for the same swing, and instead ducking before coming up and wrapping her hands around Rose's throat, pushing her back into the banister.

Seeing this, Tate quickly took action and pulled the woman off of Rosaline, tossing her back into the wall before picking up the candle holder and slamming the hollow circular part into the woman's eye socket, repeatedly punching the large base to drive it through her skull and into her brain. The woman soon dropped dead.

Coughing for a moment, Rosaline turned her attention back to Hayden, who had taken this time to grab Michael and disappear, making Rosaline let out a growl of frustration.

"I have to go. I have to get Eli out of here before she tries to take him too, but I'll be back soon." Rose said quickly, picking up her things and then Eli and leaving the house.

Immediately, Rose went over to Constance's, knocking until the old bitch opened the door, seeming surprised to see her there.

"What on  _earth_  are you doin' banging on my door so profusely?" Constance asked, but allowed the young girl entrance, knowing this would give her time to spend with her second grandson.

"Ben's dead. Hayden had him killed. He's hanging from the second floor chandelier right now, and Michael is gone." Rosaline explained, setting Eli's car seat on the dining room table before gently taking him out and cradling him in her arms, rocking him and humming softly to get him to calm down.

Constance had an overwhelmed expression on her face, and watched silently as the young mother took care of the baby, then clenched her teeth. That bitch would  _not_  keep her other grandson from her.

"I'll take care of it." Constance said, standing up from where she had sat at the table, looking at the baby. "My grandbaby... I suppose this means that the two of you are welcome to stay here for as long as you need." Constance said, reluctantly looking at Rosaline, who just gave her a small, sarcastic smile.

"Thank you,  _grandmother_." Rose said, then turned her attention to Eli in her arms. "You hear that, Eli? Your grandma is going to let us stay. Although I bet it's just so she can try to fuck up your childhood like she did her other childrens, but I'll keep you safe, baby. Mommy promises." She whispered, kissing the baby's forehead, knowing fully well that Constance was still standing there, listening.

Scoffing, the old woman turned and left her house, going over to what  _used_  to be the Harmon household, and was now... A spirit-infested empty home.

* * *

 

It was a few months and several days of hiding later when a new house moved into the house. They seemed like nice people, and when Rosaline went over to the house, there always seemed to be a door left open, just for her. She was always reminded of Adelaide when she walked into the house, and it made her smile, knowing that the girl wasn't trapped here.

Walking into the house on the family's first night there, Rosaline walked around the house silently, alone this time, as Eli was at Constance's asleep, and she watched as the spirit's terrorized the new family. It was for a good reason, she knew, and as she watched the couple running around out through the front door, she wandered up the stairs and into her old bedroom. Once in there, she saw how it had been redecorated and frowned, looking over at the boy who was standing there, being threatened by Tate.

"She deserves someone too, and I think you would be good for her. Violet deserves someone normal." Tate was saying, making Rose shake her head.

"You really think she would be happy with this boy?" She asked, stepping forward to look the boy over.

Turning around in surprise, Tate's eyes lit up and he smiled brightly upon seeing Rosaline there.

"Yeah, she would. I saw her earlier, talking to him. She would be happy with him. She wouldn't be alone anymore." Tate explained, making Rose nod.

"Alright, just slit his throat and be done with it then. I do want my sister to be happy." Rose muttered, a small smile coming to her face.

"I'm not alone anymore. Mom and dad are here, and if things go the way you're planning, then you'll be here soon too, Rose. Besides, I  _am_  happy. Every time I get to see you and Eli, I'm happy. Now, let him go, the kid looks like he's about to shit himself." Violet said, appearing behind Rosaline.

Turning around slightly to look at her sister, Rose paused for a moment before sighing.

"Alright then. Let him go." Rose said simply, looking back at Tate and the boy.

Nodding solemnly, Tate released the boy and the three of them watched him run out of the room and presumably out of the house as fast as he could.

"Well, I just wanted to come for the show. I should be getting back, in case Eli wakes up. It's nearly two a.m. now, so it should be any minute now." Rosaline said offhandedly, making her way out of the bedroom, Tate at her side, holding her hand.

"How is my boy doing? He's growing up so fast, it seems like every time I see him he's bigger." Tate said, smiling at the thought of his son.

"He is growing quickly, faster than a normal child, but then so is Michael." Rose said as they walked down the staircase hand in hand.

"I'm sure it'll be okay. He'll stop growing so fast eventually, maybe once he's a teenager and the hormones start." Tate thought out loud, making Rose chuckled as they reached the first floor.

"Yeah, hopefully." She said, thinking about how funny it would be for her son to look close to her in age when there was an almost seventeen year different. "Well, I have to get back to your mother's house. I'm lucky she's even letting me live there too, and hasn't just killed me outright to have both of the boys to herself."

* * *

 

At the end of the year, Rosaline walked into the house, holding Eli's little hand as he took his small little steps. He wasn't even a year old yet, but the little boy was developing at a quick rate, and already looked to be around nearly two years old. Smiling as they heard the Christmas music playing throughout the house, Rose looked down at her son, who had his father's dirty blonde hair and his mother's blue eyes, and widened her eyes in mock surprise.

"Is that Christmas music we hear?" Rose asked Eli, who smiled excitedly and gripped his little fingers tighter around his mother's hand, nodding quickly. "Should we see if we can find Nana, or Poppa? Or maybe, just  _maybe_  we can find Daddy." Rose said, smiling as the light in her son's eyes shone brightly at the mention of his father.

It was then that Tate made his presence known.

"Eli!!" Tate yelled as he ran into the kitchen, bending down and scooping his son up into his arms.

Laughing as Tate spun Eli around, causing their little boy to laugh and giggle excitedly. Upon hearing Eli's laughter, Violet came running into the kitchen, panting slightly as she smiled seeing them. No one at the house had seen Rosaline and Eli in a little while because the little boy had caught a little cold, and they weren't sure if he would be better in time for their little Christmas celebration. But Rose and Constance had made sure Eli was all better by the time the holiday came around, and both of them had been excited all day to come back over to the house and see everyone.

Tate passed Eli to Violet, who propped him up on her hip before motioning with her head for the two of them to follow her. Looking at each other, both Rosaline and Tate smiled brightly and kissed briefly before taking hold of each other's hands and following Violet out into the rest of the house.

Seeing the Christmas tree that was up, as well as Moira and her parents, Rosaline couldn't help but laugh.

"Wow, I can't believe it looks so good. Not bad for a bunch of ghosts." Rose teased, making everyone turn and look at her with a smile.

"You would be surprised by the things that all of the people over the years have left behind." Moira said softly, holding an old box of Christmas ornaments.

"Sweetie, it's so good to see you." Vivien said, walking over to her daughter and pulling her into a hug.

"Okay. Everybody ready?" Ben called out from where he was knelt, about to plug in the lights on the tree.

"Oh, hang on!" Rose said, then walked over to pick up Eli from where Violet had put him down, lifting him up and putting him on Tate's shoulders, with a little help from the taller boy, who bent down and took hold of his son's ankles to help keep him steady.

"You get the best seat in the house, little man!" Tate said, laughing.

It was then that Ben plugged in the lights, and the tree lit up, shining in all of it's beauty, causing Eli to let out a happy little squeal and giggle. In his happiness, Eli also wrapped his little hands into Tate's hair and tugged on it, making Tate laugh and wince.

"Ow, geez. What was in that cold medicine you gave him, steroids? He's gotten a lot stronger." Tate joked, making Rose smile and shake her head before looking over at the Christmas tree.

"It looks beautiful, you guys." Rose said with a small smile, nodding to her  _family_.

"I chopped it down myself, I'm proud to say." Ben bragged, smiling as he walked over to Rosaline and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side before pressing a kiss to the top of her head, then let her go. "Have you ever seen something so beautiful?" He asked to everyone, looking at the tree.

And while he and Vivien had their little moment, Tate and Rosaline had theirs as well, as Tate lifted Eli off of his shoulders and held him in his arms, leaning down to Rosaline and whispering, " _I have_." Before they shared a kiss, making Eli jealous as he reached out and used his little hands to try to push their faces away from each other.

Laughing as their son leaned forward, the two of them looked at each other, then both pressed a kiss to Eli's cheeks, making him giggle with happiness.

It was a good holiday.

* * *

 

A year and a half later, in September, Eli looked to be around three and a half years old, Rosaline was now eighteen years old, and the two of them were spending the day in the backyard of the house with Tate. 

They were running around the gazebo, playing tag when Eli stopped and called out to his mother.

"Mommy!" The little boy yelled. "I have to go potty!"

Standing up straight, Rosaline and Tate jogged over to their son and both took hold of his hands, walking into the house with him.

"Try to hold it until we get to the bathroom." Rosaline said, the three of them making their way quickly to the bathroom on the first floor.

"I can take him in there. Help him out." Tate said, grinning, earning a nod from Rose, who said she would wait outside the door.

It wasn't until Rosaline was alone in the hallway did they show themselves. Chad, Patrick, Hayden, and those home invaders, all of them smirking.

"What the hell do you five want this time?" Rose asked lowly, looking over at them.

"I want that cute little boy you've got." Hayden said, smiling darkly at Rosaline before waving the two home invaders forward.

The two ghosts disappeared before reappearing behind Rose, both taking hold of her arms and pinning her in place. Meanwhile, Chad and Patrick, who had apparently decided to try again with their ruined relationship, disappeared as well, only to reappear in the bathroom. Patrick, being the taller of the two, appeared behind Tate and wrapped an arm around his neck, locking his other around it to choke Tate out. While Pat was doing this, Chad picked up the small boy who had been washing his hands, turning to glance at Tate.

"Just thought you should know, we found some hypoallergenic pillows." Chad said, then disappeared with the boy.

Tate struggled for all his ghostly life was worth against the hold Patrick had on him, elbowing and scratching and trying to get the man off of him, but Chad was gone faster than he could break out of the taller man's grasp and yell out for Eli and Rose.

Rosaline, out in the hallway, was struggling against the people's grip, especially when she heard Tate yelling out for Eli. Their son had been taken by those  _fucking_  Queens, and she let out a loud scream before she was knocked out by Hayden.

Upstairs, Chad was hushing the little boy, telling him that if he wanted to spend the rest of his life with his daddy, then he would have to be a good boy and be quiet. Once the little boy had quieted down to just little sniffles and whimpers, Chad picked up the pillow and quickly began the process of smothering the little boy.

Tate burst into the room and saw what Chad was doing, then let out a yell and charged toward him, knocking him away from Eli. It wasn't enough though. Patrick soon appeared as Tate was beating the shit out of Chad and continued to press the pillow down on the small boy's face. It wasn't long before the toddler stopped struggling, stopped moving at all, and Tate looked over and saw what was happening. Yelling, he ran over and shoved Patrick away, throwing the pillow across the room before he leaned his head down onto Eli's chest to listen for his breathing or a heartbeat.

There was nothing.

Panic began to set in, and he wasn't entirely sure of what he was doing, but he began doing chest compressions before holding his son's nose close and breathing into his mouth.

Tears were forming in Tate's eyes as he tried to bring his son back to life. He couldn't die, he was only a year old. This couldn't be happening.

In the basement, Rosaline was tied up and suspended from the support beams of the ceiling. Hayden was walking around her in a circle, watching like a predator as she slowly came to and began wiggling around.

"What have you done, Hayden?" Rose asked quietly, feeling the energy of the house change.

"I took what I wanted." She answered simply.

"Then kill me. Kill me now, because if he's stuck here... If they're both stuck here, then I don't want to be anywhere else." Rose said, lifting her head with tears in her eyes to look at the woman.

"Oh, I'm  _gonna_  kill you. But not here. I won't let you die on this property. I'm gonna throw your ass out onto the street, so you die staring up at the house where everything that matters to you is, knowing that you'll never see them again." Hayden said, laughing sadistically.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You're like a child Hayden. You want, want,  _want_ , and when you can't  _have_ , you throw a fit." Rosaline said, watching with a menacing smile as Tate appeared behind Hayden and snapped her neck.

Both of them stayed silent for a moment, staring down at Hayden's body that they knew would only take a minute to heal itself and come back. After that moment, Tate looked up at Rosaline, who was bleeding from her nose, and then ran over to her, tears beginning to stream down his face.

"They killed him, Rosie. He's in the house, and I tried to save him, but I couldn't. I couldn't, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Tate cried, wrapping his arms around Rose's waist and crying into her shirt.

"Shh, it's, it's okay. I know, Tate, I know. It's okay. You just have to let me down, and then we can end it really quick, and then I'll be here too, and we can all be here  _together. Together for always,_ all of us, remember?" Rose said, her voice wavering as she cried as well.

Tate nodded and untied her, easing her down to her feet before they ran all the way upstairs to see their son's body. Crying as she knelt down beside him, Rose held his deceased body against her, stroking his hair gently for a moment before taking a deep breath.

"Mommy?" A small voice behind them called out, making them turn and see Eli's ghost standing in the doorway. Quickly covering the body, Rose took a shaky breath and smiled. "Why you cryin', Mommy?" Eli asked, running over with his arms outstretched, looking to be picked up.

Immediately lifting her son up into her arms, Rose sniffled and chuckled as Eli used his little hands to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

"Mommy is just  _so_  happy that she gets to spend forever with you baby. Do you wanna spend forever with Mommy?" Rose asked, looking into their son's eyes.

Eli quickly nodded and pushed himself forward, wrapping his arms around his mother's neck and hugging her close.

"I always wanna be with Mommy, and Daddy, and Auntie, and Nana, and Poppa." Eli listed off, using his little fingers, making Rose and Tate give small little laughs as fresh tears filled their eyes.

"Okay, baby. We'll all always be together, I promise. Mommy just has to go do something, and then it'll be all of us together for  _always_." Rose said, handing Eli to Tate before nodding to him, signalling for him to take their son and go wait for her.

Once she was alone on the second floor, her family appeared before her, all looking at her with sad smiles.

"It's going to be okay." Violet said, reaching out and gently rubbing her sister's shoulder.

"Sweetie, you don't have to do this. We'll take good care of him, you know we will." Vivien said, watching her daughter with sad eyes.

"We want you to go out and live your life, sweetheart." Ben said, brushing her hair away from her wet cheeks.

"If I don't have him, then I don't have a life to live, dad. My  _life_  is here." Rose said, then stood up and walked into the bathroom, wiping her face. She decided to keep it clean and simple, not wanting to have a mess to clean up. So she walked downstairs to the first floor bathroom and climbed into the bathtub, deciding to make it quick.

Taking a deep breath, Rose opened one of the cabinets and saw a few of the belongings left behind by the most recent occupants of the house, one of which included an fancy straight razor left behind by the husband. Sighing, Rosaline picked it up and flipped it open. She had never cut herself, or  _wanted_  to cut herself, so this was a bit different for her.

"It's kind of difficult the first time. Not the cutting, but working up the nerve to do it." Violet said from behind her sister. Looking up at Violet, Rose gave a small smile.

"Will you stay with me?" Rose asked quietly. "I know it may sound selfish, but I'm not sure I want to be alone when I do this."

Nodding, Violet agreed, then climbed into the bathtub and sat back, smiling when Rose climbed in after her and rested back against her.

"I never thought our roles would be reversed like this." Violet said quietly, watching as Rose flipped the straight razor open again and looked at her pale forearms. "It's going to be okay. The four of us, for always, remember?" Violet whispered into her ear, gently stroking her hair.

Rose nodded and took a deep breath, then quickly slit her wrists, starting from the base of her palm and quickly swiping all the way down her forearm on each arm. Her hands were shaking when she closed the straight razor and dropped it over the edge of the bathtub, letting her arm rest at her sides.

While the blood rushed out of her body, Rosaline turned her head and looked over to see their parents standing there, watching them with sad smiles. She began to grow tired, her eyesight was growing hazy, and she felt herself fading away. And so, Rosaline closed her eyes and allowed herself to slip off.

* * *

 

The sound of running footsteps and a child's laughter echoed throughout the empty halls of the house, followed by the mixed voices of a man and a woman, laughing and calling out to the child.

"Eli! I'm gonna get you!" Tate yelled, laughing as his little boy ran down the stairs.

"Boo!" Rosaline yelled from the bottom of the staircase as she saw her son.

Eli let out a scream of laughter while he looked back and forth between his parents, trying to come up with a plan quickly to get out of there when a pair of hands lifted him up into the air.

"I got him!" Violet yelled happily, holding the little boy up in victory.

Gathering at the bottom of the stairwell, the group of four all looked at each other with big grins, turning in surprise when the front door of the house opened, revealing an older woman that the family hadn't seen in a few months.

It was Marcy. The woman had grown older, as it had now been nearly fifteen years since the Harmon's had lived there, when in truth, they never left, just made a couple of new additions to the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me just be real with you for a second here. It's the end, and you're probably going to be upset with how I ended this. Maybe you won't, I mean, I hope you like it, but that doesn't mean you have to. Anyway, I did it like I did because I found a picture of this adorable little boy on Pinterest, and he's just adorable and I was already writing this, and then this idea came into my head, and I was like, 'you know what? Imma do it.' So I did. And now it's done, and while I'm a little sad, I'm also happy. I really hope you like this, whoever you are, because I've really enjoyed writing this for the past few days, and let me just tell you something, I cannot wait to get to Asylum. I don't know who I'm going to write for first, because honestly, Dr. Oliver Thredson is bae, but like, Evan Peters is babe, you know? No? That's fine. Anyway, thanks for reading this story, and I hope you enjoyed it!<3 P.S. If you wanna look up more pictures of the adorable lil boy, his name is Mete Gursoy, and his mom has an Instagram account where she posts pictures and videos of him. So cute.<3


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